I had a fantastic weekend. I didn’t start so great, in a way, because on Friday and part of Saturday I was suffering from the same blahs I’d been suffering for most of the week, since Naoko and Zen were still not back, but that all changed when the flew in Saturday afternoon.
Friday night I went out for drinks with co-workers, something I’ve almost never done, but I knew that if I went home early I’d just go batty. So we went for drinks, it was OK. Got home, and I watched a bit of TV. Saturday I woke up relatively early, did a bunch of boring chores and errands, basically killed time until the mid-afternoon when I went out to the airport. Naoko and Zen were arriving 30 minutes early, but I was still way early. I read a bit of Gormenghast, then I spotted them behind the glass looking for their luggage. My spirits lifted immediately. Naoko was wearing a bright orange shirt I bought for her in Thailand, Mr. T saying “I ain’t gettin’ on no plane” or something. This is Naoko being ironic, although probably unintentionally. I wonder if anybody spotted it. When they got their luggage, they came walking to the exit. Zen spotted me and ran towards me saying “PAPA!!” I took him in my arms, it was a really emotional moment. Naoko came out, we took a taxi together home, Naoko unpacked her rice and goodies, then I took Zen for a swim, and I cooked them dinner. We drank gin and tonic as we watched videos of the past month on the computer. Zen went to sleep before 9:00, he must have been tired (they left at 6:30 in the morning, he watched King Kong on the flight and also napped). Sunday we woke up, tidied, went out to the wet market to get coffee and look for fish goods (crappy, didn’t buy anything) to re-stock the aquarium. I took Zen to the Bukit Timah station at noon to see the passenger sleeper coming through, first time for that. Got home, ate lunch, Zen slept, I edited the Japan video, then when he woke up we took him to swimming lessons. He was just as reluctant to take part as he had been before, but finally warmed up a bit at the end. He once swam off with the rubber ring, as if playing hooky, but when he got to the other side of the pool he came right back. Had a fantastic dinner of Japanese food that Naoko cooked that was probably better than all the food I had since she was away combined, really yummy. Watched the Incredibles (again) in the evening, gave Zen a shower, Naoko read him a Japanese children’s book that she had just bought – her favourite from her childhood – and he went to sleep in our bed, where he still is now. I can look over my shoulder and see him there.