Well, it's a new year, and I thought I would begin introducing more personal stories. Here's the first one. I introduced myself in a very surface (浅い) way when I first started this blog almost 2 1/2 (two and a half) years ago.
Today I will add a little to that, to begin my story.
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Hello!
My name’s Michelle. I was born and raised (生まれ育った) in Texas in the U.S.
I came to Japan when I was 22 years old. It was the last year of the Showa Era (昭和63). If you do the math (計算したら）you can see that I'm on the borderline now between おばちゃん and おばあちゃん.
I married my Japanese husband when I was 24. My three children were born and raised here in Japan. The house I live in sits on a former rice paddy (以前田んぼだった土地) that belonged to my husband’s grandfather.
My Japanese mother-in-law lives next door. She is 93 now. Although she may look like a typical elderly Japanese woman (一般的な日本のご年配女性), she is amazing in many ways. I’m sure I’ll write a lot more about her. She is a BIG part of my adult life.
My sister-in-law and her husband (義理の姉夫婦) live with my mother-in-law next door (隣で).
My sister-in-law is my husband’s eldest sister. Her husband, my brother-in-law, is a lovely gentleman from Chad, a country in Africa.
Now that all of our children are grown, the 5 of us live in two houses next to each other. It’s funny that we’re all getting so old, because we were all young when we first met! When I first met my mother-in-law she was younger than I am now!
Here's our New Year's Eve gathering:
