“You’re going to Okinawa? We were stationed there and LOVED it!” Barrett and I heard that consistently after we found that Okinawa would be our new home. My expectations were excitingly high. I expected San Diego weather on pristine coastlines with food vendors nearby to sell cheap fruit and shakes. I thought there would be marvelous malls with the latest technologies flashing what we needed next in our decked out abodes. I thought I could find local Okinawan’s near our apartment who would sit and chat with me all day long so we could exchange languages. Well, none of that turned out to be true. Its hot. I mean HOT! The kind of hot-thick air that stops your breath. There are few air-conditioned areas to find respite and the rocky beaches only inhumanely reflect back the heat. There are no food vendors anywhere and the fruit is so expensive I buy it frozen. The technology seems to be in mainland Japan, not here in the country, and the locals do not hang out outside. Its too hot. So why do so many people like it?
I think I’m beginning to figure it out. When you come to Okinawa, life as you know it stays stacked in storage weathering in the States. All the household goods that filled a “mansion” of a home cannot fit in a 1000 square foot apartment here in Okinawa. Our sponsor told us to buy a cheap used car as they are traded like school children trading shiny stickers….just make sure the AC works. Very few buy a car for looks, only for effectiveness. Everyone gets some kind of government furniture so entering a friend’s place is like going to your own. In other words, life is simplified and keeping up with the Jones’s disappears. Your neighbors are military and with the deployment rate the highest of any duty station, someone is always missing a loved one. This means that we all understand each other and become like family quickly to survive. Compassion is given quickly, but so is the kick in the pants to get up and go. This creates a special bond between us military mates. Meals are made and shared, doors are always open, children play endlessly in the safe neighborhoods, and outings are never alone. I’m in awe of how so many serve in so many ways.
It’s been a good lesson for me. Like so many things in life, things aren’t always what they seem and failed expectations are not always bad. We have come to find that the important things in life are not in our stored stowed treasures or in a beach goers paradise, they are in the relationships we make in serving each other in times of need. We laugh with those who laugh, and cry with those who weep. I guess there is something about loving God and loving your neighbor that makes life meaningfully full. I think I am starting to like Okinawa.