The goodbyes begin

Yesterday I said goodbye to these ladies. One is a friend I've known for more than eight

years, since our children were in Japanese kindergarten together. She's helped me in many, many ways over the years.

We've enjoyed a number of "coffee" times together over the last year. It was sad to say goodbye. I had the perfect phrase, though:

Itsumo osewa ni narimashita.

Literally it means "Thank you very much for the care/help/aid you always give me." 

I don't know if I said it perfectly. I think I threw in an arigatogozaimasu (thank you), that could have been a bit superfluous. But it was understood and it was a much better thing than anything I could have said to them in English. We made it through our see-you-later without tears, but I felt teary on the train home.

It is hard to make Japanese friends. Our first years here were very lonely. So I don't take my Japanese friends for granted!

You get used to lots of goodbyes in this lifestyle, but, as an adult former-misisonary kid said to me on Tuesday, "Just cause you get used to it, doesn't mean you like it!"