Climbing in the sky

I took a quick trip to Japan last year in February. It was a spur of the moment decision, as I was feeling incredibly burnt out being here.

All through the holidays, my mother's sister (85 years young, claiming to be "dying" for the last 10 years, but nothing's wrong with her... just old) had been giving me a major guilt trip about not coming "home."

Ironically, it was my father's younger brother, (the cool uncle full of life) that would succumb to lung cancer almost exactly to the year of my visit.

Without getting sappy, I do feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to spend time with my uncle. Even though I only gave about a week's notice that I'd visit, my uncle booked a quick overnight trip to Nagano, one of the family's favorite hot springs high up in the mountains. Of course he drove. FAST. No chains. (I think we talked about meeting up in Europe so he could drive in Germany, without restrictive speed limits.)

Even in the short winter days, we managed to get up to the hot springs in record time, with a couple of daylight hours to spare... Of course we went hiking in the snow - contemplating snow shoeing it across a trail. (My aunt thought that would be a bit much) The pristine blue of that cold winter sky will be forever etched in my memory.

An avid climber, my uncle loved the mountains. I wish I had the picture of him in Nepal, with Everest in the background.

This year, when I did go back to Japan to see him, he was barely conscious and in a great deal of pain. My aunt (his wife) didn't think I'd get home in time. I wish the circumstances for my trip was different, but he hung on just long enough for me to see him and say good-bye.

Incredibly, my uncle, the one teaching Japanese language (comparable to teaching English/English literature here) was one of the few family members who never nagged me to keep up with the language or get in touch with my culture.However, he did provide opportunities for me to learn on my own. My flickr photos from Nagano will show that there was a great deal of food & culture packed into 24 hours.

We all miss my uncle, and as my cousin said, he's just going to have to wait for us to catch up with him by doing some climbing in the sky to pass the time. Am positive, he's still driving fast and climbing all the mountains he didn't get a chance to conquer. :-)