Happy New Year

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm sorry for my long absence and my silence. The month of December became one of the hardest of my life. Many of my friends had not heard from me since November started as I had gotten sick with the flu twice. I was "lucky" enough to catch the early strains here in Japan. I was sick and trying to recover and make up my classes. It was a miserable time for me and my grandpa was very sick and went into the hospital for awhile. I worried about my family, not only my grandpa but my grandma and my mom too! Worry makes you crazy. Stress can kill you! I combated my worry and stress by working out every day as much as possible. It works you know, when you are on the elliptical trainer and the treadmill or lifting weights you can not think about much else. You are pretty much totally absorbed with what you are doing.

I spent a lot of my free time on the phone with my mom... all night long. Then I was dead tired the next day and trying to nap to recover in my car between schools. It has truly been a couple months of craziness.

I must admit it hasn't all been horrible as I had mentioned on my blog about Sumo. My friend and favorite Sumo Wrestler Tochinoshin has been promoted to Juryo Division and that is a wonderful thing. I can think about his promotion and feel so happy for him. I think about his debut and his first Dohyo-iri and think about the great joy I will have when the first tournament of the year starts shortly! The Hatsu Basho will be a fantastic one and I can not wait! I have enjoyed spending some time with Tochinoshin after the Fukuoka Tournament when he came back to Tokyo and that has been really fun.

I also enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with a group of my friends and a few of my students from Tokyo Management College. That was a really great way to spend the holiday. I canceled my company class to have the Christmas dinner and it was worth it. I felt slightly guilty at first but the gift of my friends and talking with everyone (over 4.5 hours) was really worth it and perked me up!

At the last of this year unfortunately my grandfather passed away. He fought long and hard and God has finally taken him to heaven. I'm sad but I am relieved that he has no pain and no suffering and that he is in heaven in God's hands. I know he would not want us to be sad, he would want us to all go on and live life and be happy. I worry about my grandma, grandpa was all she had really. She has my mom with her but grandpa was her life really!!! They were married 64 years. That is a long time to be together. When I talk to her she cries a lot. I know she really misses him. I also worry about my mom. She has a lot to take care of and there is a lot of stress and pressure on her still. She has her hands full taking care of grandma.

During all this time I have neglected to keep up with emails to friends and I have not spent any times on forums and chatting on line so I know some of you were worried.. thanks so much for the caring emails to my cellular phone! It is wonderful to know how much everyone cares about me!

Now it is time to move on. Get on with 2008 and start fresh!

I hope that 2008 will be a wonderful year for everyone!!

I also like to say GOOD LUCK to Tochinoshin in 2008!!!! I wish you a great Hatsubasho and success throughout the year! I'll be here supporting you 100% and always be here for you when you need me! You will do great I know!!!!!

Love,
Viki