Smiles Come For Free

It's funny how the days where you have nothing planned always seem to fill up unexpectedly. That's what happened to us (Kaila and I) today. I slept over at the church last night so we could watch a movie. (We've discovered how to turn the sanctuary room into our own personal movie theater by moving the alter, taking down the cross, covering the windows, hanging up a big white sheet and hooking Kaila's computer up to the projecter.) So after watching Mr and Mrs Smith, a Kaila who wanted to either dance or go shoot people (spy movies do that to the average civilian), a small mishap with an exploding necklace in the dark, and an almost sleepless night because of the continual rain pounding on the roof, we got a call from our friends wondering if we wanted to go to a dolphin show. After jumping out of bed, converting our personal movie theater back to a sanctuary and having a few fresh cinnimon buns, we were in the car headed for Aomori, a city on the north coast of the main island.
We got back to Takanosu with half an hour to spare before our supper arrangement (only because the Kaneda's were late in picking us up). We had such a feast; I ate more than I have eaten since I can remember (aka Canada) and I still hurt now, about two hours later. There was corn soup, a fruity coleslaw type salad, various kinds of vegetable tempura, special shrimp and mushroom rice, a carrot loaf and mountain vegetables, followed by tea and apple cake, followed by more tea and things like cookies and nuts. Too bad I'm out of season to hibernate because I think I've eaten enough to last for a couple of long winter weeks.
Tomorrow promises to be a busy day as well with going to church in Odate in the morning and Takanosu in the afternoon, followed by a tea time and my last visit to the onsen. I think I have mixed feelings about that one...
It's weird to start thinking about going home, writing a farewell speech and planning all these activities with people as a last hurrah before I leave. It's weird to think that the life I have gotten used to is suddenly going to change again, that what I used to think was normal (Canada) will maybe suddenly not fit and I'll have to find a new normal.
But something I've learned over the last year is that to create a new normal you only need three things: a camera, bible and guitar.
Smiles come for free.