For those of you familiar with the stories you know that both Bilbo and Frodo were not seeking after adventure. It was thrust upon them. Bilbo was minding his own business making dinner one evening when a bunch of dwarves showed up and changed his life completely. Frodo was living a quiet hobbit life when Gandalf revealed to him that his uncle had been hiding a dangerous trinket for several years in his hobbit hole and had left it to Frodo upon his disappearance. Upon the reception of this news, Frodo's life would never be the same.
The same was true for this hobbit. I was not expecting the news that would lead to my adventure. It's true that due to my husband's job we knew we would be moving, but I did not expect that we would be told to go to Okinawa, Japan! You see, my husband and I had requested not to go to Japan for personal reasons. So when the news arrived that we were to go to Japan I could not believe it. To be honest I was quite upset - furious really. I did not react at all as Bilbo did when he finally came around to going on his great adventure.
Before the news of our impending adventure, I was very much like a hobbit - happy in my day to day activities and pleased with the way things were. I enjoyed my routine, my friends, being close"ish" to my family, but then a piece of paper showed up and changed everything, "Dear Caitlin, you're moving to Okinawa." From the date of that notice, I had about four months to not only wrap my mind around living in another country but actually get myself and my halfling, Samwise, there. This hobbit was going on an adventure whether she wanted to or not.
After months of ups and downs (which I won't bore you with here) we were ready to go. And just like Bilbo and Frodo, after a time of panic, some incessant worry, and a bit of complaining, I packed my bags (and my house) and headed out into the unknown.
Since we were traveling with our halfling we did a cross-country drive before getting on a plane in Seattle. I found that Tolkien summarized the sentiments of a road trip best when he wrote:
My first adventure was seeing beautiful towns and cities in America that I had never seen before. To anyone from Butte, Montana - Way to go! Your city is one of the most beautiful places I've been to in the States! Without this adventure, I may not have ever made it your way and I am super grateful that I did because you guys are great!
We made it to Seattle after six long days on the road and had a short time in the Seattle area to see another beautiful part of our country. I told several people that Seattle, WA is cheating when it comes to beauty. How can a city not be beautiful when it's built into such a gorgeous mountain region and is resting against such stunning coastlines? Seriously, I may not be a city gal but you all have a beautiful one.
On June 28th, these two hobbits and their halfling finally headed to the Sea-Tac airport for their second adventure the literal "move" to Okinawa. Having read several horror stories (FYI, Facebook is your best friend and worst enemy if you're moving overseas) I wasn't sure if Samwise was going to make it on the plane with us. Ya'll, I had so many people praying for our dog that you would probably think I'm crazy! Silly me for not trusting Him though, after not sleeping well the night before and worrying myself pretty much sick, God opened all the right doors and Samwise made it on the plane with us!
Our first flight was from Seattle to Yakota which was just shy of ten hours. Samwise did very well going over. For those that are curious, he does not like takeoff or landing but doesn't mind the "riding" portion of the flight. Once in Yakota, we disembarked for about two hours. Samwise and all the other pups had a chance to stretch their legs and take care of business. These hobbits wanted to get some snacks but, alas, had no Yen on us yet to do so. Yep, we were officially in Japan.
It didn't seem like it was that long before we were back on the plane getting ready to go to Iwakuni. That flight was brief, maybe an hour at most. We were supposed to disembark there as well but due to an impending storm off the coast of Okinawa, we were going to attempt to leave Iwakuni as soon as possible. Before long we were on our way to our new home - Okinawa, Japan. Just in time for our first typhoon.
That's where I am going to leave you all for now. I do not want these adventure chapters to be too unbearably long. Don't worry... I'll return to write soon! After all, it's typhoon season here in Okinawa so I'll have plenty of time.
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