David's Birthday

 Today is David's birthday; it's also the Obon holiday, one of the main holidays in Japan.

Obon is Japan's summer festival when families welcome the spirits of their ancestors back for a few days, usually between August 13 and 16. A lot of people return to their home town to visit relatives and their ancestral graves.

When David was young, we had to visit my mother-in-law's house for lunch. The other relatives would come; we would have a nice lunch together, but I always wanted to leave early so we could celebrate David's birthday. I felt sad that David had to share his special day. My mother-in-law was all about showing off; she would spend a fortune on the lunch and special decorations but never gave David a present! I wanted the day to be about David, as the other kids' birthdays were just about them. I found out recently that David thought all the fuss was for him and didn't understand why we didn't go to my mother-in-law's house for the other kids' birthdays!

A few photos of David through the years.

He broke both of his arms, 6 months apart!

On one of our trips to the UK.

With Hisao

With Hisao, Mikey and Christopher.

With Fluffy.

One problem with it being Obon is that buying sushi, David's favourite food, is hard. If you don't order it or go to the store very early, you aren't going to get any. One tradition I try to stick to is getting the birthday person's favourite lunch!

This year I decided that going to Costco would be the best. I thought I could get sushi and something else for lunch.

Big mistake. I did get a lot of good food, but it was crazy busy! Busier than Christmas! Just trying to navigate with the massive trolleys took a toll on me! 

In the end, I couldn't get any sushi; the queue for the sushi was so long, I overheard one woman say that she had to wait 20 minutes to get sushi! In the end, I got a nice pack of sashimi! Plus pizza, cooked chicken, some bacon, tomato wraps and salad.

Nice lunch

We ate, laughed and celebrated!

I'm glad that we could all be together for David's birthday. I don't know how many more times we will be together like this. 

It's been a nice break this week: no lessons at the community centre, having Hannah here. Tomorrow, Hannah goes back to her apartment. Things will be back to normal for a while!