Well, our final day has come and gone and still no sign of the card. I phoned up the government “help center” today, little realizing that “help” is a misnomer and no actual help is given. But the 35 minute wait on hold to talk to someone certainly offered up a ton of anticipatory fun!
And so tonight we drop off the dogs and tomorrow we are off. We’ll leave Ivon with the mail key in the hopes that the new card finds its way to us and was not, in fact, lost by the bureaucrats in charge (in much the same way they lost the previous application). As a last resort, we may have to fly into Buffalo and do the two hours drive to Toronto.
It will be a bittersweet return to Japan. While it will be nice to be back after almost two years, it will also be a sad occasion as we’ll be visiting Osaka to attend the memorial for Akemi’s father who passed away in October. He was always big-hearted and generous with me whenever I came to town and I am saddened we won’t have the pleasure of his company on this and future visits. In my last conversation with him a little over a month ago, I vowed to take good care of his daughter, and I’m going to do my damndest to fulfill that promise.
Lulu knows the routine!
Alright. Time to pack up the dogs and get them our dog-sitter.
I miss ’em already!
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