Packing starts now....

Here in Tokyo we are supposedly in the midst of rainy season, and it has rained about 3 times in 2 weeks. Not very rainy. What it IS is hot and humid.

This is okay, because I know I'm getting on a plane and going to Minnesota for the summer, where at least it is hot and humid with cool nights. Or sometimes it's hot and not humid (like last summer). Or it can be just plain cold.

So, what is in my suitcase for the summer in Minnesota. (Mind you, I already have my yarn stash there waiting for me, and a stack of the knitting books I own in Tokyo already placed on reserve to check out at the library there.)

Swimming suits, tank tops, shorts. No surprise. Jeans, khakis, summer dresses, sandals. Here's what might surprise some: Sweatshirts, fleece, sweaters. Warm socks. If you've even been in Minnesota in August, you know that if you don't pack the fleece, you will end up buying one. That's why the kids have sweatshirts that say "LEECH LAKE" on them from two summers ago. (Yes, Leech Lake is a real place.) We also have warm clothing that says "MINOCQUA" from last summer.

I figure it's okay, because I fondly remember wearing out a KOA sweatshirt from some family vacation many many years ago. It was too cold to swim in the swimming pool (according to my mom, who was probably right, but I remember desperately wanting to jump in a pool anyway). Not having enough warm clothes is a summer tradition.

What else is in the suitcase? The kids' clothes that they've grown out of. We bring it back and pass it on to family and friends and whoever needs it. Then we bring back the new stuff with us to Tokyo in August.

I bring seaweed (the kids snack on it, although I still find it a bit strange to eat it as a snack), some Japanese candy (milk candy), but not a whole lot.

It's so fantastic to travel to the US, because here's what's going on in my brain as I pack:

"Did I pack sunscreen? Oh, gosh, I don't know. Should I bother looking? I can get it there if I forgot to pack it."

(Substitite "sunscreen" with shorts, socks, ponytail holders, shampoo, etc -- it doesn't matter, it's ALL available.) When we travel to other places we have to THINK when we pack. Not when we go "home." When we travel to other places we bring loads of books for storytime, craft things, movies, whatever. When we go home, we stop by the library and pick up 50 books, and the grocery stores are open 24 hours (a thing of joy!), and Target is such a wonderful place I get tears of happiness just walking in.

We have an arrival tradition: the first night we are in the US we invariably wake up at 2am, jet-lagged, and we go to the grocery store. The kids love the truck-carts, and we go up and down every single aisle. We don't buy the gimicky stuff (don't get me started on fruit gummies and how many different child-appealing packages they can put the same sugary crap in), we don't buy the sugar cereals, but we get fruit and veggies and cereal and milk and ice cream and juice and eggs and whole grain bread, and it's all so AVAILABLE and (if you pick the right store) so GOOD. By 3am we've had our fill, we go back home, put the groceries away, perhaps have a bowl of cereal, and go back to sleep.

I'm coming home soon, and I can't wait.

P.S. For my family members -- I'm really coming to visit you guys, not just to stroll down the aisles of the grocery stores at 2am. Really.