What is taken in by contemplation is given out in love- Eckhart
This year was really special because I was able to go back to Wisconsin twice in one year. Both times Chika came with me and slowly got to discover where I am from and get to know my family. We flew home on Dec. 20th leaving at 11 AM from Japan and arriving the same day at 7AM in Chicago, successfully time traveling to the past. Our first couple of days were spent in Kenosha where I was able to hold my new nephew Jonah for the first time. I didn’t drop him and he didn’t cry too much so I think it was a pretty successful experiment. I have held many babies in my life and it has always been special but it really felt different knowing that he was my nephew. I felt this urge to be close to him and watch everything that he was doing. Even just seeing a picture of him now makes my heart just melt like I’ve never felt before. As a special surprise, my younger cousin Emily also made an appearance all the way from Connecticut. She is the first person that I remember meeting as a baby and watching grow up. I was able to see her for a couple of hours in the summer but I was grateful for the opportunity to spend a few days with her this time at my brothers house. We all cooked a lot, went out to eat at delicious Italian restaurants and explored Kenosha. It was a slow, catching up and catching out breath couple of days.
My parents, Chika and I left Kenosha behind and made our way back up north to Oconto. Wisconsin had been exceedingly cold early this year in November and we had been prepared to fight an unimaginable cold upon arrive, but were surprised by almost the same temperatures as we left behind in Chiba. In fact, a large portion of Chika’s luggage was hand warmers and these really cool sticky hand warmers designed to stick to your clothes which she barely used at all during our trip. During our trip this summer we had an incredibly busy schedule moving from city to city so this time it was really great to just go to Oconto and be there for a week uninterrupted. It let us really fall into a relaxed and enjoyable rhythm. We slowly got ready for Christmas, wrapping our presents and decorating the tree. In the meantime we had pie at the famous Wayne’, pizza at our town’s pizza place Brothers three, and went on walks in the beautiful, stark and frigid parks around Oconto.
On Christmas day we slowly unwrapped our presents and drank coffee and enjoyed being in each other’s company. Justin, Hannah and Jonah had made the trip up and spent a couple days in Oconto also. I was able to give the Wallisch-Weber family the quilt that I had spent so much time making along with lots of other knickknacks that Chika and I had scoured Tokyo for. Afterwards we made our way to a few family parties that were happening around town and chatted it up with uncles, aunts, cousins, second cousins, great-aunts, friends of the family and sometimes just strangers. It is always extraordinary to return home and see all of January 29, 2015 these people that are part of my life and that have known me since I was born. I live in a very large web of connections that now stretches across the globe but the center can always be traced back to that community in Oconto. I haven’t seen some people for more than two years now so between marriages, job changes, and new boyfriend/girlfriends, there was quite a lot talk about. People were very nice to Chika and included her in the conversation which I was very grateful for and I think now Chika has met 90% of the family.
We spent the time after Christmas slowly exploring Oconto and its environs. Having someone visit is always an exciting catalyst for finding bizarre and unique places to visit. Many of the places that we went to I had never visited before either so it was an interesting adventure for me as well. Our journey took us to a bar in a little tiny town next to Oconto called Lena where the walls are covered with over 1000 taxidermied animals. We were treated to a special bonus when the 30 something year old bartender invited up us to his apartment above the bar to look at his Christmas display. As creepy a proposal as that sounds, it was in fact quite spectacular with every single surface of his apartment in every room (including bathroom) bedazzled with every imaginable Christmas item you could ever buy. The kicker was that upon leaving he pulled out a remote control and turned off the whole display with one push of a button. He assured us that Halloween is perhaps even more spectacular. During the night campaign we also ended up a barn which had been converted into a bar some 50 years ago. We enjoyed our fried fish dinners and enjoyed a drink “where the cows used to stink” as the outdoor sign cleverly advertises. We found out that night that Chika is incredibly adept at darts. She slyly started off “unable” to even get the dart all the way to the dart board but within 15 minutes she had stealthy crushed my mother and I at a game we thought we had won. Thank God we didn’t have any money riding on it. Other nights took us to a botanical garden, a butter burger restaurant, and even to church twice to really round out the Oconto experience.
New Years was spent in Milwaukee with my friend and normal bike partner Ben. He had returned home for the holidays too and invited us to spend the New Year at a party of a mutual friend in Bay View. It was a really interesting night filled with great food, beer and fun conversations. At 11PM Chika and I left to meet my friend Francis and for five minutes, Heena at a bar a quick jog away. We had our chat and wanted to get back to share the countdown moment at the original party but sadly spent the first moments of 2015 in the middle of a deserted neighborhood outside, lost in the cold. Looking back it seems rather romantic but part of me remembers being pretty cold and a little worried about finding out way home again.
Our last days were spent between Kenosha and Chicago. In Kenosha we had our last day at my brother’s home and got to say our good byes to everyone. My parents offered to babysit Jonah for the night and Justin, Hannah, Chika and I were able to go out for dinner just the four of us. I hope that we will get more moments like that in the future to just hang out. It made me feel really grown up going out to eat like that on a double date with my brother. In Chicago, on our last day, we went on this wild outing to a place which my mother had been dreaming of going called “Ifly”. It is a skydiving simulator where you enter a huge wind tunnel and the wind is so strong it causes you to, in effect, fly. My mother, father, Chika and I all suited up and had our 2 minutes to experiment with gravity. It was surprisingly difficult as every tiny movement in your hands and feet send you either rising, or moving forwards or backwards and it is a tricky thing to master in just 2 minutes. Also because of the wind it either causes you to have a wicked runny nose, you can’t breathe or your back is being bent in two. We all walked away ravenously hungry and in need of a chiropractor.
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My parents were gracious enough to get a hotel in downtown Chicago for all four of us for our last night in the States and we had loads of fun walking around the city after our flying exploit. We ended our night with delicious Chicago pizza and a visit to a jazz bar just down the street. We watched men skillfully send for the bartender to buy some ladies a drink at the bar and Chika was stunned at the whole scene. She was unawares to how slick some of my American brothers can be (I’m too cheap) but was ultimately disappointed that nobody bought her a drink, except for me (she forgot her money so I had to). Apparently Japanese men are more my style of shyly sipping one drink all night and then casually stepping out the door unaccompanied.
All of us that returned home have come back to Japan and we are starting our final stretch. We are all convening this weekend to talk about “must do” things before we all part ways from this glorious country in August. I’ve been enjoying my time back and actually sewing like a madman again, trying to finish some new bike panniers before our first bike trip of the year. February will be a very fun month and we all have lots of big events planned. This year winter here has been quite mild and going home for those two weeks have made it all fly by quickly. I hope the New Year has started the ball rolling on new projects, dreams and goals for you all. I look forward to hearing news and please be safe but a little wild in this coming year.
On a windy winter day,
James
