We’ve had a few visitors to come see us here in Guam, but it’s been a little while. Guam feels far away from absolutely everything, and no one is ever ‘just in the neighborhood’, so we don’t expect visitors. But today the four of us will head to the airport, while on the other side of the world, my sister and niece will start their journey from France. If all goes to plan, we’ll meet up in the Haneda airport tomorrow morning, and we’ll start a two week visit together. I’m so excited!

We’ll start in Tokyo, but just long enough to let them catch their breaths and start to recover from jetlag, before we continue on to Guam. We’ll stay here for about a week, and then head back to Japan to do a quick dash through Kyoto and Tokyo before sending them off on their way. The part that I’m most excited about is sharing our life around Guam with them. I’ve already re-written this paragraph three times, trying to figure out how to describe the experience of visiting Guam. And, to me at least, it just defies description. It’s Amerian… but not really. It’s Asian… but not really. It’s stunningly beautiful… except where it’s not. Every natural element of the island teems with vibrant color and the kind of beauty that reaches into your soul and blankets you with a deep peace. But while nature here is relentlessly beautiful, it’s also just relentless. I always imagine that if humans walked away from the island, all signs of our presence would be subsumed from view nearly instantaneously. But Guam’s history also lies just beneath the surface. I’m not qualified to write about the CHamoru people and the history of the island from before contact with Magellan over 500 years and all the turmoil in the years after. But around the island today, you can see the evidence everywhere. Guam was strategically located for centuries along the trade winds from South America to Asia, and in the 20th and 21st century, it’s strategically located along the seam of American and Asian influence in the Pacific. Today it’s truly a melting pot of CHamoru, American, Filipino, Spanish, Japanese and Korean. There’s even an occasional dash of Russian mixed in. While each cultural influence is distinct, they all combine together to in a uniquely Guam combination.

We’ve lived here for five years now… Which is breathtaking in its own right. But it’s really only within the last year that it’s felt like home when we arrive back after a trip. It’s only recently that I’ve stopped ogling when we drove around, trying to make sense of what I’m looking at. It just looks like home now.

Which makes me particularly excited to share it. We want to take Meg and Kate on a boat day and to the beach and to soccer practice and… every where. I want to share our life here with them and see Guam anew through their eyes.

Plus… I just miss them.

The trip to Japan is just gravy. We’ll spend a few days in Kyoto and then head to Tokyo for a couple days before sending them back on their way. We’re trying to share some of our favorites and explore some new places too. I hope they enjoy it. I know we will!