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BY the Hall!

Osamu fell down at kindergarten and skinned his knees again, so when he got home mama set him up with a waterproof bandaid and a cozy spot on the sofa to watch TV and take it easy. When Kenzo's out Osamu fully capitalizes on his temporary autonomy, so he had the remote control all to himself and binge-watched episodes of his favorite Netflix show Hello Ninja.

I walked up the street around 13:30 to meet Kenzo on his way home from school and waited a while. Almost 20 minutes actually. I got worried that I somehow missed him and called Eri and she said he wasn't home yet. Now she was worried.

Right at that moment Kenzo and his classmate Hidekazu came walking out of the community center. Apparently Kenzo had to go to the bathroom really bad, so he opened the community center door and encountered a group of old folks singing karaoke. He asked them if he could use the bathroom and of course they said sure.

Kenzo doesn't know what karaoke is yet, so he described the scene to me through his six-year-old lens as we said goodbye to Hidekazu and headed down the street to our house.

"There were a bunch of old people singing into a microphone and clapping and it was very noisy."

I told him that's karaoke and asked him if he wanted to go out with mama and papa and Osamu to sing songs sometime. He kinda shrugged his shoulders. I think his impression of karaoke at the moment is tainted by his bathroom emergency and the noisy old people.

This exchange occurred shortly after...

ME
Osamu, where did you fall down? At kindergarten?

OSAMU
Yeah. By the hall.

ME
In the hall?

OSAMU
BY the hall!

After everyone went to bed I headed out for my nightly walk. It's one of my favorite times of the day because it's calm and I can reflect on things. Before I go I peek in and check on the boys and Eri. I can't really describe the feeling, but it's soothing and gratifying to check and make sure my family is tucked in tight, safe and sound and cozy in their beds, before doing a little late night walk around the block.

When I got back fifteen minutes later I took a moment to enjoy entering my house.

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