We have been living in Fukuoka for five years now, and for my part it is difficult to believe how quick it has been. Our son turned six last Friday, and thinking back, looking at old photos, it truly feels like only yesterday we came here just in time for his first birthday. Now he is in his final year at kindergarten and although I can miss being able to pick him up and carry him everywhere, it is such a precious gift to be able to share his growing up, to see him becoming his own person in the world, exploring his curiosity and interests.
For readers of this blog, it should come as no surprise that the theme for our son’s birthday this year was Star Wars. The past six months we have been living in the Star Wars universe with stories and books and LEGO and play and so of course I was anticipating our son’s request to have Star Wars decorations for his birthday. I had found some nice Star Wars balloons and Happy Birthday letters that we used to decorate with, and the presents this year were Star Wars LEGO from relatives and Star Wars books and chopsticks and a space craft model from mum and dad. The day before his birthday our son was a bit worried what would happen with the decorating if he woke up before I did, since he has been talking for weeks now about how he wanted us to decorate his birthday as a surprise in the morning. I reassured him that would not be a problem and made sure to do all decorations before going to bed.
When it came to cake however, I could not find a Star Wars themed one. I was thinking of making one myself, but here our son was insisting on being true to his former passion instead, Tomica toy cars, and he had already set his intentions on a Tomica ice cream cake we had seen at the mall. As for dinner, my wife and I had made reservations to have a little birthday party with grandmother at our son’s favorite restaurant – McDonald’s. We kept it a secret, so after Friday afternoon’s soroban lesson, I took my son to the mall to pick up the cake, and then I told him that we are going somewhere special to meet mum and grandmother. He was so excited and kept guessing where we were going, and when he realized we were going to his favorite McDonald’s, he looked like the happiest boy in the world.
That night he was so tired that he only wanted a story before sleep, no books, just a space mission in the Star Wars universe. But it has to be a space mission dad. In the middle of the mission, he was soundly sleeping. Happy birthday my dear sweet son, may the force be with you.
