Mrs. DiLaura
That is who I am now.
Mrs.
DiLaura.
While visiting nana and gramps, Ariana and I were walking along the beach and ran into one of baba san’s parent’s very polite 12 year old neighbor. “Mrs. DiLaura, this is my friend…” Of course I don’t remember his friend’s name because I was stuck on the fact that he called me Mrs. DiLaura – that is baba-san's mothers’ name, not mine.
Oh.
Right.
It is my name now.
How weird.
Not the name. It’s a nice name. I like it. The weirdness comes when I am reminded that I am a Mrs.
In Japan and with most of my friends and their children, no matter how young or old , I am Jennifer. Some people ask how I would like their children to address me and I always respond “Jennifer”. In turn, I refer to all of my friends by their names “say hi to Julie”, “we are going to see Clare today”, etc., etc.
But, to a twelve year old boy on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie, I definitely am a Mrs.
It is so grownup.
So adult.
So not me.
This time, no one asked.
They just said it.
I just was.
Mrs. DiLaura.
How weird.
That is who I am now.
Mrs.
DiLaura.
While visiting nana and gramps, Ariana and I were walking along the beach and ran into one of baba san’s parent’s very polite 12 year old neighbor. “Mrs. DiLaura, this is my friend…” Of course I don’t remember his friend’s name because I was stuck on the fact that he called me Mrs. DiLaura – that is baba-san's mothers’ name, not mine.
Oh.
Right.
It is my name now.
How weird.
Not the name. It’s a nice name. I like it. The weirdness comes when I am reminded that I am a Mrs.
In Japan and with most of my friends and their children, no matter how young or old , I am Jennifer. Some people ask how I would like their children to address me and I always respond “Jennifer”. In turn, I refer to all of my friends by their names “say hi to Julie”, “we are going to see Clare today”, etc., etc.
But, to a twelve year old boy on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie, I definitely am a Mrs.
It is so grownup.
So adult.
So not me.
This time, no one asked.
They just said it.
I just was.
Mrs. DiLaura.
How weird.
The second part of our trip found us, visiting baba-san's parents. Thanks to some intense coordination and lucky arrival times, baba-san, Ariana and I met on the plane at Kennedy, baba-san having flown in earlier that day from Tokyo and Ariana and I flying up from Florida. We arrived in Buffalo where we met up with nana and gramps as well as Kelsey and Jed, who flew up from DC to see us. Again, it is a miracle that we all made it at the same time, given the giant seemingly normal delays experienced by many here in the US.
We had a wonderful reunion with cousins, great aunts and friends, spent a lot of time at the beach, one night at a bonfire, went to the zoo, got our fill of beef on weck, and generally relaxed and enjoyed ourselves tremendously.
the very polite Daniel, Ariana and Kaitlin..
Ariana and Clare hanging out with the monkeys....
"Jeeeeedddddd"
"Kesey"
many DiLauras and nana playing a very, very good sport as Ariana wants to put a bag on her head. Sensing some hesitation..
Ariana demonstrates...
Nana follows....
"which hand has the sand in it?"...
"this place is cool, can we come back next year?"
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