Dread covered the Japanese man’s face, it said all that
needed to be said which was, “I screwed up.” At which point I found myself
getting into his car thinking there’s little chance I would ever trust someone
so willingly in America.
Here I was in a car with an English speaking Japanese man
contemplating my situation. On one hand I could be snowboarding for three whole
days with my husband and friends, on the other I could be at home continuing my
recovery from my recent rhinoplasty. Instead I joined them on a ski and snowboard trip for three
days in the Japanese Alps at a resort called Shiga Kogen. It was decided that
snowboarding was not an option for me as previously thought because I could not
wear goggles over my face as it caused more pain and pressure on my nose. This was not an easy situation for me
to swallow, be it pride, anxiety of needing to do something, or mere desire to
be with the one I love as much as possible, I stayed behind as others joyfully
skied down the snow covered mountains; thus, I entertained myself in rural
Japan for 3 days.
What to do? Snow monkeys. I strongly dislike monkeys. So be
it, I will see them. The people at
the front desk told me to take a particular bus at the following times to get
there and then they gave me a bus schedule which was in Japanese… This should
be easy.
I walked down to the supposed bus stop and asked the man
helping park cars which side of the street I should stand on as there were two
signs. He asked me where I was
going and directed me to a different bus at a different location and time. I returned to the hotel lobby to wait.
Just to double check I asked a different person at the front
desk and they told me that I should take the bus someone had previously told me
to take… At this rate it would take me 3 days just to get forty minutes down
the mountain. Okay, I’ll wait with some cookies and tea.
Time passed.
I saw the nice Japanese man on my way back down to the bus.
“What’s up?” he
asked.
“I asked the front desk and they are certain I should take
this bus.”
“Huh, come with me.” We walked back towards the hotel, away
from the bus stop. Can it be this
hard?
He stopped at the bus stop at the very front of the hotel,
he looked worried and I saw a bus drive away from the other stop; we walked
back to the first bus stop. He
talked with a co-worker, and came jogging back to me, pointing to the car.
At first he looked devastated that he had made me miss my
bus twice. He quickly drove the tiny stick-shift box all the way down to the
bus station, it’s amazing boxes can drive that fast. The bus depot was fifteen
minutes away; of course I couldn’t help starting a little conversation:
“Do you ski?”
“Yeah, I like to ski. Do you?”
He asked me a couple of general questions and finally I
asked, “Do you have family?”
The smile stretched across his face, “Yes, my wife,” and the
smile that couldn’t get any bigger did, “and my son. His birthday was last
month.”
“Oh, how old is he?”
For a moment he stuttered in excitement, “Last month he was born!”
“WOW, that’s exciting! Congratulations!”
“Thank you! I’m so excited! I’m a DAD!” His smile was
glowing with joy, “I’m a dad!”
What an experience to see the joy on this man’s face, and it
was worth the runaround. If every child could see these moments of joy on their
parents’ faces when they are born I think the world would be a different place.
It was God’s gift of the day to me
to see that father’s joy.
The joyful father apologized for making me miss my bus, and
I reassured him that everything was fine and I was grateful to have a ride to
the bus stop. He was so kind, and
I was so happy to meet him, though I think he was lacking a little sleep.
