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No Footprints

Eri was so worried about me driving Osamu to the bus stop this morning. She thinks I don't know how to drive in snow. And technically yes I am not good at it. Our neighborhood is basically all hilly streets, hence the name 山の寺 (mountain temple), and there's this one steep incline that Eri famously got stuck on last winter and called me in a panic and when I got my snow boots on and ran over there she was already safely away.

This morning I hit that same incline and lo and behold I started sliding backwards and Osamu was in the back seat going woohoo. Luckily there were no cars behind me so I let the car slide back to the main street and I took a different route and we made it to the bus stop on time... except the bus was 40 minutes late due to mayhem on Route 4.

So we had a pretty awesome snowball fight while we waited. The other moms barely tolerate me.


After a while Osamu got cold and grumpy and started crying and grabbed my leg and told me he wanted to go home. Soon after that the bus finally came and Osamu reluctantly got on and I tried to take his picture but he ducked under his seat.


Every three weeks I gotta go downtown to my head shrinker and get my anxiety meds refilled, so I took the afternoon off and the first thing I did was fall asleep on the floor of my office and missed my bus. Man that was a good power nap though.


Seriously, though. I thought the bus was gonna be behind schedule.


So I head to the bus stop 20 minutes later and that bus was on time too and I missed it by a minute.


Well, then. The next bus was at 14:19 so I got to the bus stop at 14:17 and of course it came at 14:35 and I boarded looking like a yeti because I refuse to use an umbrella in the snow unlike everyone else in this place.


I love tire chains on buses. They make the best sound. Like Santa's sleigh arriving.



Downtown was a bit more slushy than Izumi and I realized my shoes were not only inappropriate but need to be trashed. They're full of holes and cold water got in and my right foot was a snow cone for the rest of the day.


Luckily downtown Sendai is beautiful in the winter so it was easy to take my mind off it.


Meanwhile back at headquarters Eri and the boys went down to the park and had a snowball fight and built a snowman and made snow angels and got totally pooped.


I went to my group counseling session too, and even though my footwear was getting more and more egregiously uncomfortable I walked from Hirosedori to Kita Sendai, passing through Nishiki Park, which was quiet and covered in snow and icicles. I love a wide open space covered in fresh white snow with no footprints in it. 

I caught the last bus home. When I came in the house was all warm and cozy. Eri was watching TV in her pajamas.

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