October 2 to 9, 2010 Back Home and Beginning of Fall

I cannot count how many times I wrote a draft for the blog only to not finish it or destroy it halfway through. I am still in Seattle with a month left before I head back to Hawaii for winter in port maintenance. I was to take the wife but not sure whether the boat will stay in Hawaii or come to the west coast for dry dock. Usually the ship comes to the west coast for such activities.

Shore time has been slow and I am glad for that! Last weekend we hopped in the car, took advantage of the nice weather and drove to Leavenworth to look and experience the Bavarian village in the Cascades we heard about for years but never visited. The weekend before was a trip to the Seahawks game against the Chargers. That was the best NFL game I ever attended. The Hawks won 27-20 and the game was well worth the money. There were quite a few Chargers fans there as many flew up from San Diego. Baseball season ended last Sunday with the Padres choking after having a six and a half game lead over San Francisco and the Mariners, well unfortunately for them the season ended last May. It turned out to be another 100 loss (101 to be exact) season for them, second in the past three years.

This weekend depends on the weather. The long term forecasts calls for rain all weekend. It looks like time with books, music, movies and occasional TV shows.  The usual trip to the grocers for ethnic food stuff and who knows we may go to a sushi restaurant in Lynnwood. There is an authentic Japanese restaurant called Taka Sushi that I like. The owners are a husband-wife team from Okinawa. The husband is the master chef. In the times we ate there, I feel as if I were back in a small mom and pop restaurant in Japan. The environment is authentic.

Precious time with the family is always a top priority, especially with this job where time away from home is a minimum 50%. The son goes to college for his first year while the wife continues to study English and takes her courses seriously. Her English has improved considerably. I use my spare time enjoying the arts from books, movies, music and occasional TV show.  Life in suburbia I experience for only half of my time annually. I will not fret too much as it will not be long that I will write about life in a small town. At which I will not mind being away from it except for leaving the family behind to exist in a monotonous environment that only is enjoyed by a few living in a myth. I feel as if I am abandoning them to force myself back to reality and the 21^st century. In many ways it is parallel to my Naval Reserve drills I used to attend in California in the 90’s whenever I caught the weekend airlift out of Ogden, Utah. Except that was leaving Utah on a Friday night, back home 48 hours later and continue living a life which not too many would consider normal either.

The equation missing from the family is “L”’s son. It seems as if the paperwork trail grows by the day. Questions keep rising and many of the information required I cannot comprehend on why they need it for a fifteen year old boy. Immigration is a controversial topic these days especially with elections around the corner. I cannot understand why a minor, whom I agreed to be his sponsor and can well support him, is treated no differently than what his mother went through. As for “L”, her conditional green card expired and is due to have biometrics taken for her permanent green card. We do have an attorney and a form that automatically extends her current green card for a year but what an annoyance to carry it around all the time. We applied for her permanent green card over three months ago and employed the services of an immigration attorney.

It may be another week before I write something. This weekend is a long weekend and who knows what to write. I would like to go to North Cascades if the weather permits. I would like to walk on some of the trails before the snow falls and the highway is closed for the winter. It is sad in some way as the move to Oregon is inevitable as the politicians prevail. All this driving around to different areas is like a farewell tour.