On Empty Cookie Boxes And Expats In Tiny Closets
Craig note- I love cookies! Oh, and I could use a little more space as an expat these days in Japan. (Enjoy the full blog here.)
On Empty Cookie Boxes
I love cookies.
My beloved mother used to make cookies multiple times a week. I ate them as fast as she could make them as a boy. She was always happy I enjoyed her baking.
But, I am 44.
And, well, I can tell you being 44 and loving cookies is not a match made in Weight Watchers heaven.
But, I still eat cookies.
In fact, I have a cookie closet in my classroom. It’s a dark, cool place to hide my cookies, teas, and coffee. Those delicious snacks would be long gone if any of the staff found them.
Did I mention young Japanese women love sweets?
Seriously.
Usually, I have a fair amount of willpower. My daily cookie limit is two. But, the other day I got the munchies, and I went to my cookie closet. I opened the door, and I saw a box of my favorite cookies. I foamed at the mouth as I opened the box.
But, much to my dismay, the box was empty.
Completely empty.
I looked high and low in that cookie closet for any hint of my favorite cookies. A minute or two passed, and I gave up looking for my favorite cookie. And, I searched for any cookies.
There were none.
I took everything out of that tiny closet, and I looked high and low for even a single cookie. Five minutes later, I found a melted, crushed, chocolate wafer cookie in the back.
Truthfully, I questioned, “Exactly, how old is this cookie?”
That rational thought was brushed aside, and I ripped open the shiny, gold wrapper.
And, I ate it.
Boy and girls, it was the best cookie I have ever had in my life. There was something about the effort to get that little snack that make it all the more delicious.
Funny, life is Japan is a lot like finding that well-earned treat for me these days.
I remember a time in Japan when the cookies of my life were huge. Things like my social life, my job were enjoyable. It was easy to be a positive and happy person.
Honestly, life in Japan was heaven for about five years.
These days my life here is still amazing. But, to be sure, it is not heaven anymore. I work harder to be a positive and happy person than I did 13 years ago.
To be sure, and most certainly by choice, I stayed in Japan, and I brought more folks into my life. These people depend on me for their happy lives.
And, I deliver 100% of the time. You can bet your soul on that.
Of course, that comes often at a fair amount of personal cost. That is not to complain about my lot in Japan. Rather, it is to say there are times in my life when I want life’s big cookies.
I think I deserve big cookies.
Truth be told, I want the biggest cookie for me.
But, of course, so does every other expat living on this island. he proverbial cookie closet in Japan is getting awfully cramped while the number of foreigners seeking to get in that little space with me is increasing.
So, while my stomach and life longs for big cookies and the biggest dreams, I appreciate the fact that both my tiny cookie closet and life are not empty.
Still, one day it would nice not to have to fight for nothing more than:
“Empty cookie boxes.”
Grey, Grizzled, and Gaijin
(Enjoy more great free content on the full blog here.)
“People have got to learn: if they don’t have cookies in the cookie jar, they can’t eat cookies.”- Suze Orman
