I Love America!

  Our little family returned to America from Japan 2 months ago.  We came back knowing it was time to return, although we have no job, no car, and no home.  We are living with my parents in a desert city with a skyrocketing crime rate, the highest unemployment percentage in California, and pretty much nothing in the way of entertainment for kids.

And yet, I have never been happier!

  That should say a lot about our living conditions in Japan, or as I like to call it "our year of discomfort".  Don't get me wrong--I love Japan and would even live there again in the right circumstances.

But--there are 3 things here that have really made me love and appreciate America and count my blessings every day that we are back!

1.) Family

My mom playing with her buddy Q

   I have been so lucky and blessed to be able to see at least 1 of my siblings every week since we returned, and of course my wonderful parents on a daily basis.  Everyone who knows my dad knows that he is amazing with babies, so Quincy loves it! My mom is a former 1st grade teacher, so her house is like a little preschool! I missed my brothers and sisters so much, so it is wonderful to see more of them!


2.) Food

  Literally every time I have eaten a meal since our return, I have shouted my praise of America! We went from eating white bread and white rice and cake doughnuts (sadly, the densest snack I could find for my kids that wasn't white rice) to whole grains and almonds and sweet potatoes and salmon burgers.  I am in heaven, and Claussen's pickles, $2 watermelons, and the cereal aisle are my angels.

3.) Books, Magazines, or pretty much anything written in ENGLISH 

    Wow, as I am writing this, I am remembering my deprivation.  I am someone who is very close to her family, definitely a foodie, and a huge book lover.  In Japan, I would get super excited about any random magazine I could get my hands on (even if was Good Housekeeping!) and I would even shell out money to order old issues that had somehow floated down to an expensive import company in Kobe.
  So this magazine junkie is so happy to be around printed materials in English.  I am so excited (well, maybe not that excited) to be able to read nutritional facts of what I eat.  I am so happy to stand in line at the grocery store and flip through magazines I can read, instead of glancing away from the pornographic magazine aisles in Japanese stores. Most importantly, I am so happy to take my kids to the library story time and watch them pick out a stack of books.  It warms my heart.

 I love books in English.

I love O, the Oprah Magazine.  In my opinion, it is the most uplifting, inspiring magazine ever.  She has a section in each magazine about women who create beautiful things and women who quit their corporate jobs to become alpaca farmers and goat milk soap makers!

And I love America!