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Convincing Myself Otherwise

Eri made the most delicious ramen ever tonight. It was miso I think. I didn't even think to ask. My taste buds were too busy. But there was also that amazing briny shrimp stock flavor as well. Every time she makes ramen I always declare it the best of all time, but this time I think it really was.


Kenzo started his day by declaring it was his monkey's birthday. His monkey is a cute stuffed animal that grandma gave him because his cousin in America had one that he loved and grandmas know a good thing when see it. 

Kenzo spent his free time today cutting and folding origami presents for his monkey. At one point he decided he wanted an origami heart, but he doesn't know how to make that. He asked me but of course I'm useless. The ancient traditional art of Japanese paper folding? I make a helluva paper airplane and I have tried and failed to make various animals for the boys through watching YouTube origami videos.

Luckily mama has a knack for such things.


She consulted a video just to be sure, though. The result was a perfectly crafted silver origami heart. Kenzo and his monkey were pleased.

I was making my way slowly up the hill toward our house after walking to Ichinazaka via Tenjinzawa and I heard, "Papa!" My favorite sound. 

It was nearing dusk and the boys had apparently taken a relatively short nap and decided they wanted to go for a walk. Kenzo had an ulterior motive, though, because he was carrying his jump rope. We ended up at the park watching Kenzo practice his rope jumping until it was almost completely dark.


It's Saturday so this morning was soccer. We left mama at home so she could study and do her mama things in peace. After soccer the boys and I went over to Rifu to one of our favorite parks, Grande 21. The boys just call it Rifu Park, though. Mama made the boys onigiri (with salmon in the middle) lunch boxes with mikan for dessert. Papa grabbed some sweet and sour chicken from the grocery store while the boys played soccer.



I love Rifu Park. We've brought our tent and cooler box here a bunch of times to spend the day. It's not far from our house. Less than 20 minutes by car. Today we were mobile, traversing the various play areas and doing our best to stay dry since the morning rain had dampened the slides and some other playground equipment.

In the end we always err on the side of getting wet, dirty, and sometimes a little bruised.


Eri sent our watches off for battery replacement recently and they came back the other day. I haven't put mine on in a while, mostly because of the dead battery but also because a lot of things I used to do to accessorize myself kinda went away when I started working from home. I've never been more into sweatpants than I have been these last two years.


Putting my watch on today for the first time in a very long while made me think of two things. Eri and my father.

This watch was a present from Eri when we got engaged. I can't think of another material item I have ever treasured as much.

I have a box in my office with important stuff in it; passports, foreign currency, spare keys. And my father's watch. I take it out once in a while. Sometimes I think about getting it fixed up and wearing it. I always put it back in the box because I convince myself that it's not a good idea to do that. I'm thinking about convincing myself otherwise.

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