the laughter and tears of the familiar.

So...here we are, futon...its you and me once again. I feel like I have missed you a little. I have a new computer for you to meet. I'm sure you two will become very good friends over the next while.

Futon, as I sit here at 6:30 in the morning, jet lagged, waiting to get ready for work, I must tell you that I have loved our times together over these last few months. I feel as though it was good for us to be apart this last week, to gain some perspective from each other. But, absence indeed makes the heart grow fonder. So, I guess I'm saying I have missed you. I think thats how I felt about visit home. I have grown to truely love where I come from. I has so good and refreshing to sit on a big comfy couch, to drive in a car with friends on an open road, with wheat fields in my view, and to laugh and cry with familiarity once again.

I thought coming back to you, futon, would be difficult or that I would feel torn between two places. Although I was in between tears on Tuesday to come back to Osaka, I felt it was ok. I felt like I was going to be ok. And after the long 9.5 hr flight, I stepped off that plane, gathered my things and made my way back to my apartment. This time, taking the bus. Travelling past Osaka's skyscrapers, the massive harbor, and seeing the city like it was my first time, only different now.

These last few months, I have been pre-occupied with change, wanting to see new things, experience new things. I forgot what a gift the familiar actually is. It renews us. Sustains us. Reminds us that we are normal. That we are loved.

So, futon, its just you and me once again. You are somehow softer than before.