3 Years in Sendai 19 - We left our hearts in San Francisco.

While living in Sendai located on the 5th. Floorf of the 6 story building of the DIA PALACE, Yasoen Verde condominium complex on topf of the hill at Yasoen, overlooking the City of Sendai on one side and the Sea off Ishinomaki on the other, I wondered if it was all predestined. Or did my mind subconsciously willed itself into setting up the train of events that led to my family's migration to Japan from the City of San Francisco where i had live for 10 years of my life. Was it my 'Hijrah' from one level to the next in this given period of my life and that of my wife. We met in San francisco, my late wife and I as a matter of fact we met in an Old Georgian building called 191 Haight Street. (of Haight and Ashbury fame) where the tenants were almost all 'Loony Tunes" as my friend David Carlson often  jibed. I met Nancy through David who was one of the members of the 191 Haight Street Club sometime in 1998-99 and its was Love at 'hindsight'. I fell in love with Nancy for the wrong reasons as she did me but we were meant to help each other to cope with the madness that we called living was getting to us. We both needed a strong reason to want to live, we got married.
I would not say that my life with Nancy was all uphill and Rosy, it was like riding a roller coaster of emotions, filled with rage and anger but also full of trust and understanding, we made it; we had two lovely children.I hope to ask my friend David Carlson to write of how it was like living at 191 Haight St. David is last I heard living in Ensenada, Mexico, just south of San Diego, California. Don't ask me what he is doing there last I heard he was going to teach dogs how to write Haiku! Knowing my friend Davideo, as he would like to be known as, anything is possible. We keep in touch on Face Book and David is still David, just a littler elder but much wiser!

 Even though we were facing a financial disaster after my daughter was born we managed to hung in there and survived intact as a family and no small thanks to all those who were most supportive and caring and they deserve to be mentioned, I must say my family while living on 2nd. Avenue two blocks from the Golden Gate Park at one end and a block off Balboa on the other, to the families of Peter and Tomi Nagai Roethe and their two children Eli and Kai. Tomi was the strength that Nancy was able to lean upon in times of need and they both were members of the San Francisco Shintaido Group. hen there were the Hallocks, Jack and Yori and their two daughters, Jesse and Kristy. David Carlson and Diane and their son Tarik. There were My Greek Brother George and Rosemary Berberis and their Children Sofia and Mikail and cannot remember the last one, was there? George lived in San Jose. There was Mike Warren, my neighbor from across the street who lived pretty much alone and was very good at crochet. Mike would come over and entertain the kids along with his grandson. And the there was Richard Sigberman the is today quite a  very well known Artist in San Francisco Bat Area. as a illustration artist, check out on  Internet! Richard was my mentor in what to do with my life as much as i did his. These were among my extended family providing support for one another in a big city that was becoming un-affordable for people like us.
Tomi and Peter threw a farewell party for us the day before we left San Francisco and pretty much everyone was there including my very dear friends form my work place and Nancy's fellow teachers from UCBerkley and the Zen Center residents.
On looking back I realize how fortunate My family and  I was. My son Nazri, the Dubai pilot now, was going to school at San Jose State and so i got to see him every now and then especially when he needed a place to hang out. So Karim and Marissa had an elder brother to look forward to every so often. I did not do too bad making it happen for my wife and children at the very early age in their lives in one of the most beautiful and alive City in the World, The Gay Bay! When it was time to leave i simply let it all go, my friends and my life and stepped forward one foot at a time not knowing for sure what to expect from one airport to the next. Thank God that both my wife and I were seasoned travellers having lived life more on the road than in one place. I was also confident of making the move because Nancy coudl read and write Japanese and late she received her Japanese Certificate to teach the language. She had lived earlier in Japan for seven years before we met. Which also meant that she still had friends in Japan and one very close friend was a Wendy Laird an English lady who was then married to Matsu San a Japanese stage actor and quite a character by any standards. Matsu san introduced me to Japan when we first arrived in Tokyo and put up at their home in Chiba. That was where I had my first 'Ofuro' bath. and slept under layers of futons on Tatami floors. Ate my first Udon  and Miso soup.
Matt Monroe's "The Impossible Dream  " just ended on You Tube. If you know the lyrics you would have an inkling of how i feel at the moment.
Why not...

Matt Monro – The Impossible Dream Lyrics

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest To follow that star
No matter how hopeless No matter how far
To fight for the right Without question or pause
To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause
And I know if I'll only be true To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest
And the world will be better for this
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable stars.