Family is Everything

Earlier in the month (December), we went to Tokyo.

Not for work.
Not for sightseeing.
And not with a long list of plans.

We went because both of our kids are there and Christmas felt like the right excuse to stop coordinating life from afar and simply be in the same place for a while. For quite a lot of years Christmas was marred by study schedules, exams, swim training and generally a lack of properly observed holidays (I wish Christmas was a holiday in Japan).

Like many people, we’re also very focused on work. We're retailers. Christmas is THE season.

But we’re also in a new phase of life now — empty nesters. I made the decision almost as soon as my younger son left for university that I would make a big effort to make the trip to see him and that I would definitely try to make Christmas special with this new tradition.

I was both surprised and extremely pleased when hubs Takeshi said he would join me. It took some careful calendar-juggling between my husband and me — making sure our work commitments lined up just enough to give us a window. It felt important to do it now, while we have the health, the energy, and the means to travel easily.

We’re only in our fifties. This isn’t a dramatic declaration.
But losing my dad has had a way of sharpening my priorities.

Tokyo in December was cold, festive, and quietly lovely. Winter light, warm drinks, busy streets balanced by pockets of calm. And best of all — time together. 

Nothing extraordinary happened.

As parents, you spend years in the thick of daily life — organising, supporting, showing up in practical ways. Then one day, the shape of that changes. You’re still a family, just moving through the world differently.

This trip felt like an acknowledgement of that shift. A decision to lean into it, rather than rush past it.

Family doesn’t stop being everything just because life gets quieter.
Sometimes it becomes clearer.

Merry Christmas!