life in Japan as a foreign mom
This weekend was not exactly the peaceful weekend I had imagined.
My husband went grocery shopping while the three of us were dealing with one of those difficult weekends when everyone seems to need a little extra care. I had almost completely lost my voice, and we all needed medicine. Hithesh has been having a bad cough again, and sometimes, when I hear him coughing badly, I feel tears coming to my eyes.
There are moments when I simply put my head on my husband’s shoulder and cry.
We are just three people here in this foreign land, far away from our families. But somehow, we manage to take care of one another. When one of us is tired, another helps. When one of us is worried, another gives comfort. We may not have our whole family around us, but we have each other.
And that means everything.
Even in the middle of a difficult weekend, I kept thinking about how blessed I am.
Our relationship has always been one of the things that brings peace to my mind. Sometimes, when life feels overwhelming, just having my husband beside me makes everything feel a little lighter. There is something so comforting about knowing that, whatever happens, we are facing it together.
At the same time, my heart has been with my mother in Sri Lanka.
She is unwell and recovering from an operation on her leg. Being so far away from her is one of the hardest things for me. I wish I could simply be there, sit beside her and help her myself. But from here, we do whatever we can as a family. Even from thousands of kilometres away, we try our best to support her and be there for her in every way possible.
Maybe this is what life really is.
A journey where, once two people start building a life together, all kinds of things begin to appear along the way.
Struggles.
Challenges.
Hardships.
Worries.
Happy tears.
Little moments of laughter.
And countless blessings that we sometimes don’t notice until life becomes difficult.
We don’t get to choose everything that happens to us. But perhaps we can choose how we stand in the middle of it.
And I want to stand here—with my family.
Through the difficult days, sleepless nights, worries about our little boy. I miss my mother terribly. Through everything that comes our way.
Because when you have wonderful relationships around you, somehow life still feels beautiful—even when life itself is hard.
This weekend, more than anything, I found myself silently affirming how blessed my life is.
I am a wife, mother, daughter and a woman trying to build a life far away from the place I once called home. And despite all the struggles, I feel incredibly blessed.
Maybe happiness isn’t always about having an easy life. Maybe sometimes happiness is simply having someone beside you when life isn’t easy.
And for that, I am grateful.
We are still standing.
Together.
And that, to me, is the blessing.
