memory box

arrived in halifax on sunday. i LOVE this city. as a child i'd come here every summer with my family and spend 2 weeks eating my grandmother's food, playing with my cousins, laughing at my funny uncles, swimming in the ocean and just being happy. i came here for univeristy too. needless to say, this place is filled with happy happy memories.

however when i arrived on friday all of my boxes from japan were waiting for me at my mom's (i was suppose to be living here not ottawa). i tore into them looking for my clothes, cds and odds and ends. instead i came across my yukatas (summer 'kimono'), my shodo pieces (japanese calligraphy), instant raman packets, chopsticks, photos from my life - friends, students, drunken karaoke scenes, letters from students, obento boxes, things you hang from your cell phone (what are those called?) and so on. i felt very strange (and thanks lorax for your thoughts on this), here i was, in the city of my past, looking in boxes at the evidence at how i had changed over the years. my mantra as i was leaving japan was that i had to keep my wheels in motion. neither halifax nor ottawa are motion for me. they are places of comfort. once i'm better, i'm a woman of motion again. decided on vancouver, 2007.