Japan trip - Day 7

Last full day in Japan at my grandmother's house.

Do you ever think about what things will be like the next time you get to come there again?  I remember making a time line of my life for a class in high school where we had to map out our life until we died.  On mine, I put that I would travel the world when I was in my 20s and then do it again after I retired.  I still think that's what I'll do, since I've been able to do so much traveling before I got married.  One place I remember in particular is visiting the Trevi Fountain in Rome.  As the tale goes, if you toss a coin into the fountain, you'll be able to come back again someday.  The coin is literally littered with thousands of coins (the Italians must have to clean it out all the time!).  Anyway, I was 20 when I went there and tossed in a coin.  I remember looking really hard at the entire place around me and wondering what it would be like when I came back again in the future.  Would it still be just as crowded?  Would it still feel so light and beautiful?  Would the water be just as brightly colored?  How would the statues age?  I really do want to go back and see it again someday.

I can't imagine what it would be like to come back to Japan again someday.  By the time I come back again, I know that my grandmother will be gone.  My aunt and uncles will have their lives, and my cousins will too, and there really won't be anyone to come back and visit, stay with, and experience things with again.  The city has changed an incredible amount since I started coming as a child - it's not the same place I remember from my childhood.  I wonder if my mom feels the same way when she looks at the place now versus when she was a child.  It truly makes me wonder if I'll ever come back, which is so sad to me.  I love this place.  It's a part of me and has been since before I was even born.  It's almost bittersweet to prepare to say good bye to a place that has held so many wonderful, new, and sweet memories.  It makes me incredibly happy that I've been able to bring the girls here with me to see and experience some of these things, and I hope that L will remember some of it long after we've gone (E probably won't, but I know that already).  It's like a second home to me, and I'll always be grateful to my grandparents and the rest of the family for being able to do that for us.

Time to pack.  Off to America we go.