CONTRIBUTED BY MEREDITH NOVARIO
Eli, my oldest boy, turns three this week which is odd because I’m pretty sure I just had him a couple of months ago. Three years is an impossible and shallow way to sum up the time and energy and heart-aching, back-breaking love that is Eli. You know how it goes.
Before we came to Okinawa and we were making our good-bye rounds I kept repeating something wacky about how Eli would be over three by the time we came home again. Three years old was about as tangible as owning a moose which, incidentally, would have been an excellent birthday present for him. Oh, how he’s loves the moose.
Yet here we are at three and I can picture it now. Everything about three is extremely tangible and in focus. I know what he looks like when he’s pretending to be a piece of corn or flailing, wailing over a broken cracker or singing about Rudolph and that “one froggy night”.
Three is as clear to me as our remaining months in Okinawa. Months that I can count on my own fingers. Like three years old, these months will be priceless and speedy. Or as Eli says, “fast like a bug”. Therefore, I will make mad lists and cross things off countless times between now and whenever.
Yeah, whenever, because that FULL list is out and somehow Joe and I haven’t gotten to it. Despite our readiness and willingness to move on to our next chapter, we cannot seem to sit down and get specific about where to move next. I had wanted to have that conversation before writing this tonight so that I could chart some sort of tidy progress between episode one and two. But I didn’t which is pretty much how I roll. Plus maybe you’ll come back for episode three if I don’t give you everything you want right away. As if you’re dying to know.
Onward.
I love this blog. I love that a team of us have pulled this off and so many of you have piped up and joined in and helped each other out. I so badly wanted and needed this blog when we arrived here and I want for other people to have it in the future. And the future of this blog is a big, fat question mark. I won’t bore you with all the details.
Not ALL, just one. This blog runs on Typepad for a 15 dollar monthly fee. I happily pay it because this is a hobby for me. But when I leave Okinawa and let go of the blog and give it over to lovely people who will shape it into bigger and better things, I don’t really want pay for it from afar. In an attempt to offset that cost, we put up all those Google ads you see around town here. They don’t bring in enough to cover our monthly fee unfortunately. Not yet anyway, maybe never. Not sure.
Then we added a tip jar in the top left side bar. At first I put a BIG tip jar and finally chose the smallest icon possible because it makes me break out into a hot then cold then hot sweat just at the thought of asking to be tipped. But that’s what I’m doing because I’d love, LOVE to see Okinawa hai! carry on for as long as you all want it to. Maybe this blog is worth a bit of cash to you. THERE. I said it.
Onward.
I’m worried about my dog. There has been a lot of great chatter on the blog about how to get animals TO Okinawa but I have no idea how to get home with Maltsby. Somewhere I have stored a fact or rumor that there are days when animals cannot fly due to the heat in the un-air-conditioned belly of the plane. I keep imagining a situation where we have everything in order but our departure day is a scorcher and Maltsby can’t fly with us. What then? I cannot leave without him. He’s my Maltsby. My Rick Maltsby P.I.
Onward.
We’ve got polls! My creative juices were not flowing with this one. And yet it kind of tickled me. As of right this second 39 people have weighed in AND 32 is the most popular age to be. Anyway. Surely you can top me with a better question to toss out to everyone. Dazzle me.
Onward.
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All the posts in Meredith’s “Me & My Big PCS” series: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX
For posterity’s sake we have left this universally euphoric, terrified, confused, “what am I doing?!” series on Okinawa Hai. However, we have closed comments for future readers. If there is relevant information for all readers to benefit from, we have taken elements from this series and created new posts, which we’ve linked to from the original text. Thank you for joining us on this ride.