Father and Son Reunion

Together again

Dek and I had been away for two weeks. This is the longest Mike had not been around Dek. In fact, the longest Mike had never seen Dek since the day he was born was about 24 hours. It was a rough 2 weeks on all sides. Every time Mike and I spoke I asked him what he was up to and if he was enjoying all of the uninterrupted sleep and extra time he now had with us gone. He was not enjoying it. He said life was really boring. It was nice to get the household chores done without interruption, but Mike missed us.

Never a bad thing for a wife to hear. Dek and I were also very ready to have daddy back in our lives. I had, had enough of poopy diapers and temper tantrums, and I longed for an extra set of hands to help me out. I also just missed my husband. I do like (and love) him after all.

When our flight landed in Osaka, I knew I had about 30 minutes before Mike’s plane landed. We had agreed to meet at arrivals. I would be the person waving my hands like a crazy woman when he walked out of customs. I had no way of knowing if Mike’s flight had come in early or not, so I kept looking at every white person that came through customs while I was waiting in passport control. Then I looked around in luggage just in case he had gotten there before me. By that point I could tell which baggage claim he would be at. I was going to just wait for him there, but then I thought, what if Mike got here before me and was waiting on the outside like we planned. So I went through declarations, and Dek and I wandered around in Arrivals.

By the way, the international arrivals section of Osaka airport is very boring. After being in Hong Kong, Osaka was a quiet, country airport in comparison. Everything was so calm and orderly. Even customs was a quiet and structured affair. Everyone waited their turn. Custom officials were on hand every step of the way to direct you. I even had one customs guard help me wheel out Dek in his stroller while I wheeled out our cart of bags. If this was how all of Japan was, I knew I would be moving soon.

Back in arrivals, Dek and I somewhat patiently awaited Mike’s arrival. It only took about 10-15 minutes, but at this point it was feeling like forever to me. Dek was antsy and wanted to play with the other kids, who had no interest in him as they waited for their grandfather.

Finally, that smiling, semi-bald face that I know and love came out of the door. Dek had been distracted by the elevator going up and down behind us just as Mike came out. I had to point and ask, “who’s that? who’s that? Look it’s daddy.” It took Dek a few seconds of looking at Mike to realize what was going on, but then he got a huge grin on his face and threw himself into Mike’s arms for a big hug. The elevator was forgotten and daddy was once again the center of his world.