GOLDEN WEEK

Well, in what seems like only a few months we have made it to the verge of another Golden Week, when many of the many city people in Japan crowd the highways on their way to non-city elsewhere, a good number of them traveling from urban Kansai out to all the nature there is around where I live, to enjoy the often beautiful weather of this period.

Kaya, for example, will be coming tomorrow to stay with us for a few days on a huge vacation from her noisome little twin sisters, during which time she will bask in being the complete focus of attention, as she deserves, at least for this time in her young life. She is outgrowing that need already, as day by day she becomes a genuinely individual little lady.

It’s fascinating to observe how Kaya develops in separate durations as she comes to visit every few months, a phenomenon you can’t appreciate with your own children as they grow up invisibly, right before your eyes. I look back at photos of my children when they were that age, clearly recall them like that and wish I could have those thems back for just one day, but Kaya will fill that need perfectly, in her own special way. That's one of the many reasons we have grandchildren.