Our Family - In Portraiture

Well after the last somewhat dark post (the result perhaps of a lingering cold that in the end I couldn't avoid and through which I'm now struggling), I decided to take a leaf out of L-kun's book (literally) and tell you a bit more about our family. Well, there's Daddy... that would be me. I'm rapidly approaching a ripe old age. Ok - the word old is a relative term. Anyway - best not to mention the war. Clearly from this picture, Daddy's had a few too many last night; hence the slight disagreement with gravity.

I've been too uni for far too many years, though I've been at the same job for 11 years now. Yeah - that means I'm entitled to 3 months long service leave. Now most of my annual 4 weeks leave is generally used travelling to Japan each year. Though the longest I've stayed is about 10 weeks in one stretch. I've been to Japan eight times, and also around the world twice. You'd think I would have realised it was a sphere after first time around. Then again, oh look, there's a rock... ah... another rock [I apologise if I have offended any goldfish out there]. Still, whilst I enjoy my career, these days the family is my focus in life.

Now this is indeed a rare treat. As anyone who has read my blog for any time would realise; T-chan never, and I mean NEVER appears on my blog. At least not directly that is.... though she does make cameo appearances every now and again. I normally explain this by saying something like "that's because she's shy". Actually, it's because my wife looks EXACTLY like this picture. No seriously... in the morning... spitting image.

When my wife is not beating me up (for writing mean things about her), she's looking after our son. She concluded a good career in Japan to come to Australia in 2002 (actually she'd also spent about a year in Adelaide for high-school). She thought this was a temporary trip to re-charge her batteries - and that's where she met me. At least it was my lucky day. For me, she was definitely one in at least 20 million. Thankfully she said yes back in 2003 when I proposed. She immigrated out from Japan, even though her heart will always have ties back to her parents and brother and the city of Sapporo which is as much part of her family. And yes... Mummy's hair is that curly.

Now this portraiture couldn't have been achieved if it were not for the artistic talents of one just turned 4 years old who goes by the self-styling of L-kun. He's actually also getting over a cold as well... suffering from a 38+ temperature last night. Now who is L-kun? Well, he's a bit of a funny fellow...but quite shy around people outside the family. At home however he's quite the cheeky one - though at times he can be a real drama-king. He does love acting, singing and dancing - and looks very impressive when he's trying to be serious. Unfortunately he's not quite so enamoured with learning the alphabet... "I mean, why the hell do we need a big M and a little m... they both mean McDonalds don't they!"... [Ok - that bit was me thinking out loud... but seriously, why do we have a small and big alphabet... ?]. You know - for all that I say I've been to Japan eight times (oh lardy dah), my son has already been there four times and his Japanese is much more natural.

And finally we have the real brains behind this organisation. T-kun (yes, even our cat goes by a pseudonym too). He's about 7 years old now, and yes, L-kun got it just right when he drew this picture of him. He loves to lay down. In fact, laying down seems to occupy most of his time. That's not to say he's lazy. He will lay down here, there, and basically everywhere. He does have a slightly strange tendency to lay on his back with his feet suspended in the air. You know - that whole, go on, give my belly a pat will ya....you know you want to... and that's how the spider lures the fly. With a smile, not a snarl. I have to admit one thing however... T-kun's just a little... hmmm... how to say.... gravity-abundant. This could also explain his continual gravity defying reclining antics.

Well - that's our family to date. And I'm not an expert on art, but I like L-kun's drawings. He actually used to be a fantastic artist from about 2-3 yo, then suddenly took a left turn for about 6 months when he went into his the-world-is-made-up-of-parallel-straight-lines phase... very modern. Now he's getting right back into it. Thankfully. I'm a firm believer that children find their own talents, and a parents role is to help and encourage him along the way. I guess it's a little too early to start drawing up the plans for his own gallery however... Or is it....?

Anyway - that's our family as of now. Who knows what the future will have in store.... to be continued.