39th Birthday and a 1st Reunion

For those of you who don't know (and I'm assuming the number is quite small), I taught English in Japan with the JET Program right out of college. It was awesome. I enjoyed teaching at a very welcoming school; it was fun to live alone overseas; it was exciting to explore an extremely safe country and other (not-so-safe) countries that year; and I made a lot of great friends. In fact, some of the close friendships I made that year are why Tony and I left our sweet munchkins with Tony's folks this past Saturday and drove to the Windy City! Why, you ask?

For a reunion AND my 39th birthday!  What reunion, you ask? Well, it's been nearly 16 years since I returned to America from Japan...and 16 years since the other four Americans in my town and I had seen each other! We'd been talking about it for years. It was finally time! We needed to catch up, see what everyone's been up to...and laugh (really, REALLY hard) about pictures like these:

These friends were my family in Japan. While hanging out, eating great meals and singing LOTS of karaoke, we bonded over teaching English in a foreign country and being the only foreigners in our town. And so much more!

So...Tony and I got to Chicago on a gorgeous day...here are the views from our hotel room: the Chicago River and downtown on one side...

And Lake Michigan on the other! Pretty awesome!

Time to tackle the city!

The Bean! (Check that one off my bucket list!)

I spotted this sign outside a hotel...it says, "Welcome" many languages, including Japanese. Perfect!

Speaking of which, it's time to party like it's 2001! Kanpai!

There was yummy Japanese food and beer...

Meeting new faces! Tamiko brought her fiance Mark!

And silliness thanks to Rebecca's travel companion Marmot---seen here serving me beer...Japanese style!

We even executed a pretty good "Where are they now?" photo. Here are the five of us in July 2001 (our farewell dinner in Japan). Don't we look like babies?!

And here we are now in May 2017! Love this!!

Then we headed to karaoke (of course)!

Where we drank more beverages. (Tony and I would later wonder, "Why did we take so many shots?!" Ha!)

Marmot Idol!

Watch out, future karaoke studios!

At midnight, I turned 39 (woohoo!) while munching on popcorn and chocolate-chip cookies, in an effort to soak up the alcohol! :-P The next morning, I woke up and was OFFICIALLY 39 years old! Woohoo! To get the celebration started, Tony and I walked to get donuts at a place that our good friend Danielle introduced us to in the fall. It was delicious and a nice tribute to our dear friend who we'll always think of when we're in Chicago.

Then we packed up and headed to brunch! We ate at Beatrix, which was super yummy...and carb-filled, thank goodness! (Can you tell that Tony and I might have overdone it just a bit the night before?) Another highlight was reading our individual answers to a short survey I sent out to the other JETs before the reunion. The questions included topics things like, "Is there a song (or songs)--American, Japanese or otherwise--that immediately transports you back to Japan when you hear it?" and "What is something you miss about living in Japan? Something you don't?"

Tatsuya mentioned missing a little curry restaurant that he used to love. I had all but forgotten about that place, but then remembered taking Beth there when she visited me!

Diana shared some of the funniest stories of the weekend. My cheeks and abs hurt from laughing!

We also shared favorite memories about one another, including when/where we first met. You wanna talk about warm and fuzzy? It was! There was lots of love in the room!

Birthday brunch!

Complete with chocolate cake!

Shimizu's Fab Five! I can't wait for the next reunion!!

And how did my 39th birthday wrap up? With more love! When we got home, the kids and grandparents surprised me with cupcakes, homemade cards and thoughtful gifts. Sammy drew a cake and used three foam Nerf bullets for the candles...and then wrote, "Your as awesome as a cake." Brie gave me a pack of colored pencils from the kitchen art drawer and (in reference to her not-so-fancy gift) said, "It's not a big birthday. You're not turning 100." Phew! Sebastian hugged me and said, "I wuv you. I miss you." Thirty-nine feels really good. :-D

P.S. On Monday morning, when I was STILL feeling queasy, I spotted an old-school Japanese probiotic drink while grocery shopping that I knew was sent from the drinking gods to help combat my hangover. Thank you, Kroger! It totally helped!! Tasukatta!!