Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

   I'm sure that a lot of you already know that my dad passed away almost exactly 2 weeks ago. But for those of you who didn't know, obviously that explains why I haven't been posting lately. Yuki and I just arrived back in Japan last night after a rush trip home.
I actually tried to write a post on my dad last week, about how much he meant to me; what a wonderful, smart, kind, respected, and loved man he was.. But it was just too personal to share, and I still feel like I'm being torn apart every time I think about him no longer being in this world. Selfish perhaps, since I'm also so very thankful that he's with God now and is no longer in such intense pain.. At the same time, I just miss him so incredibly much. It's funny how much you can miss a person, even when you're accustomed to not seeing them every day. But I still open my email and expect to see a message from him, still expect to hear him answer when I call his house.
  I'll start back on my usual posting soon...but I wanted to say thank you to everyone who's sent prayers and words of support and love. And I'm sorry if I haven't written you back--please don't take it personally. I'm just not ready to talk about it much yet.  

In honor of my dad's profession, I thought this quote was fitting:

Time is a physician that heals every grief.  ~Diphilus