Come, let me entertain you with a good story that starts with a rather seemingly typical, “normal” female and ends with me cursing at my husband in a sea full of umbrellas, blaming my stroke for “its bad behaviour”.

Let me set the stage for you, shall I?

I will admit it….I am a summer-lovin’ city girl….but there is something about Tokyo in the winter that makes me smile. It is like no other city, I tell you!

We are always getting feedback, right? Whether we want it or not, our boss, team, colleagues, coaches, children, everyone! is always letting us know what they think. This year, as we rang in 2019, I thought it would be really cool to ask what Y O U think…..

It has been one of those kinds of years. Nothing has been the same. From our sleepy little Swiss village, to living in a city of thirteen million people... from holidays spent laced with traditions and family, to one spent on the beach... so many changes…. but the holiday have always been very grounding for me, a time to evaluate.

Yesterday at our Thanksgiving lunch, we went round the table and shared one thing that we were grateful for. It was amazing how many times we clapped, cheered, clinked glasses…because, the reality is, we have a damned good life…

Since those long-ago days, eating turkey and drinking red wine on Long Island with my girlfriends, I have lived in four different countries and three continents. For me, the Thanksgiving Day celebration has deepened and broadened over the years… friends, family and dreams all pile in to one big fat day full of good vibes and good food. 

How a guilt trip from my youngest turned into a fun Tokyo day trip…and then I had some realisations about being a mother!

What is it about a day spent wandering, exploring a new place? What is it that it does to your senses? One afternoon, spent chilling in the down-to-earth and vibrant Tokyo hood of Kichijoji actually gave us the feeling that we had taken a mini holiday….and only 20 minutes from Shibuya station.

When you ask Lulu, Friso or what they love the most about their new home, and if you listen carefully, you will hear something unexpected in their words. They speak unmistakably about culture and the transformations they are experiencing. Living aboard has made them quite reflective about their own culture and who they really are.

And how 4 mamas pegged it from Tokyo on a girlfriends' day out (read - day with the girls and no kiddos!)

As any busy woman will tell you, planning a day out…just one little day away from it all…is no easy task. But, we four were determined to leave Tokyo for the day, just get out of dodge and see something new.

We have had that little apartment in Klosters for almost eleven years now. We’ve spent each and every winter weekend there, Christmases, New Years Eves, Winter Breaks and every other free day in between….but when you have the chance to see your old home thru the eyes of a tourist, something unexpected happens.

Before Japan, I wasn’t actually that sure I was a passionate mother.  I didn’t spend the time on it that other moms did.  I assumed they were better. I thought I was missing something….and then I was invited to create a vision board….and the fairies came…..

As an ex-New Yorker, I have had a brand new handbag swiped off the back of my chair in a London hotel, a mobile phone snatched off of a posh restaurant table and my family home in Switzerland broken in to while my children were sleeping upstairs. Losing my mobile phone in the centre of Tokyo - a shocking revelation ensues. 

Coming from Switzerland, we are very used to snow. Everyone drives four-wheel drive automobiles, the trains and trams leave and arrive on time all winter long and families own multiple shovels. I cannot remember school ever being cancelled in the years we were in Zürich. That is why the past twenty-four hours have felt like a magical holiday for us.

As an expatriate, one of the most typical and frequent questions I am asked is “Where are you from?”. This is a natural and open question, but it always causes me to hesitate.

It is not only obvious differences between city and suburb or Asia to Europe. There are real and vast deviations that our children have to navigate. For them, life is exhilarating and, a the same time exhausting. And this experience is as personal as it is individual.

I believe that we should all have a bucket list, or three. You know the saying that hindsight is always twenty-twenty? In a (very) weird way you are creating that retrospective look into your past.