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One night late in May 1997, I (Scot) was checking my e-Mail and checking for any new visitors' comments in our Home Page Guest book. Sure enough, there had been a new signee on the Guest book earlier that day. It was from a person in Japan that said they were traveling to the Washington, D. C. area soon and asked for some suggestions for things to do and see while in this area. I wrote back initially to reply to the message and to ask this person in Japan, Nao Sakakibara, to tell me a little about themselves (male/female, age group, what time of year they planned to come to D. C., how long they were going to be here, hobbies, etc.) so that I could write back with some relevant information for them. I really didn't expect to hear back from this Nao person, but did the next day. She wrote back saying that she and another female friend would be traveling here early in July and would be staying about a week before moving on to their next destination, New York city. She asked if I knew of any relatively inexpensive places to stay, like a youth hostel, in the Washington, D. C. area, since they were college students and were going to be traveling for nearly six weeks; including a trip into Europe. I called the hostel in D. C. and got some initial information about accommodations, rates and availability and passed that information back to Nao via e-Mail. I also asked if they would be interested in staying with an American family for some of their stay here. (I knew of a couple of friends who had participated in exchange and hosting programs before and was thinking that if Nao and her friend didn't mind staying in the Northern Virginia suburbs of D. C. and commuting into town to sightsee, that perhaps one of these families might host them.) In the next e-mail that she sent, she excitedly said, Yes! She and her friend would love to stay with us...(???) Ooops! Our first "something must have gotten lost in the translation" error! At first I thought, "Oh no. Now I'm going to have to explain that I didn't mean to offer her and her friend a place to stay in our house." But I didn't want to sound rude or cause them to feel embarrassed for misunderstanding what I had meant and written either... I told my wife, Vickie, about the dilemma. She laughed at first and then asked how I was going to break the news to these kids? The more we talked about the situation though, actually, the less it sounded like a bad idea. In fact, we thought that it might turn-out to be really fun and even educational; especially for our children, Lauren and Kyle. You know, to have that "cultural exchange"-thing working. So, we wrote back again and proposed that they plan on staying here for their first weekend, after we picked them up from the airport Thursday evening. Then, on Sunday, if they were comfortable with their surrounds and if we were comfortable with their presence as well we could mutually decide on whether they would stay or if we would help them find somewhere else from which to base the rest of their visit to D. C. Nao wrote back saying that our suggestion sounded fair and reasonable to them. Well, to make a wonderful nine days short, by Saturday morning we had already offered for them to stay with us until they were to leave for New York. They enthusiastically accepted. They were a truly delightful couple of young women. Very thoughtful, courteous, intelligent and of good humor. No trouble at all and, in fact, very good company. During their visit, they were able to visit the Washington Monument, the U. S. Capitol (in session), the National Gallery of Art, the Holocaust Museum, Georgetown University, Smithsonian museums, the Old Post Office, Union Station, Old Town Alexandria, and many other of the capital city's attractions. They found the Metrorail efficient and also surprisingly clean. They also enjoyed the more "mundane" events that were going on in our family lives those nine days, like going to Lauren's NVSL swim meets two Saturday mornings, going to see the new movie Men In Black at the local mall, celebrating Kyle and "Maw-maw's" (my mom's) birthdays on July 4th with our traditional cookout and backyard fireworks display and going out to dinner to a few local restaurants including Alexandria's Chart House with us. They met some of our friends, like Kim and Larry Geldner and Mimi and Jeff Swigert. They went on after dinner walks with the family through the neighborhood (rollerblading a couple of those nights) and particularly enjoyed seeing the deer and squirrels at play in the fields and yards around here. Somewhere from the time we picked them up at the airport July 3rd until we took them back to the airport on July 12th, we fell came to love Nao and Aki. They had practically become part of the family just that quickly. By the tears rolling down Vickie's cheeks when they were leaving, you would have thought that she was saying goodbye to her own daughters, perhaps never to see them again... A lot of people who said to us before Nao and Aki arrived that we would probably have a wonderful time hosting these out of town/country guests, failed to warn us that this might happen too! That we might not want to part with them!! After getting back home from letting them go/taking them to the airport, we found a note on the dining room table that Nao had subtly left for us. She had written it before going to bed the night before. In the note, she expressed their gratitude for everything and wrote a little memory-related paragraph about/to each of us individually. Of course, those endearments were pleasantly appreciated by all and started the teary expressions back up again in Lauren, Kyle and Vickie. (Okay, okay... I felt a little catch in my throat too; I'll have to admit.) The rest of the afternoon, we kept finding ourselves recalling something fun about Nao or Aki or about something that we'd done together. Fond memories were being cemented and revisited right away I guess. By dinner time that night, we were kind of starting to get back into our more normal routines and then around 9:30 the telephone rang. Vickie had been expecting a long-distance call from her sister, so she jumped up to get the phone in the kitchen. From the living room, I heard Vickie say, "Hello? ... Nao!!!" Yes, it was Nao calling her newly-adopted Virginia family from New York to say that they had arrived safely and were all situated there. Just like she was our daughter calling home to "check in" and to let us know she was fine and safe. How sweet... We wish them well during their summer adventure, and I'm sure they will steal a little piece of others' hearts too to take back home to Japan with them, just as they have a piece from the four of ours. In case you are seeing this from somewhere Nao or Aki: We love you and miss you. Fare thee well in your travels this summer and throughout the rest of your lives. (And don't forget to check-in with your new family/friends here in northern Virginia whenever you get the chance.)
Comments and questions can be sent to: This page was last updated on 05/30/04 .
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