leaving Tokyo and eating sandwiches

I was supposed to be on the bus right now, en route to a plane that would fly me and the rest of the cast to Hyogo.

And no, I didn't oversleep.

There's this small problem of a typhoon here, causing some delays in our travel plans, so I am sitting tight in my hotel room for another hour. And honestly, I don't mind. Just gives me a little more time to myself this morning and that is something I treasure.

It also gives me more time to finagle plastic bags over my guitar so that it stays dry in this typhoon. I do have a case, but it's a soft case and not waterproof...so yeah.

It also gave me a little bit more time to go get one more sandwich from the best sandwich shop on earth. That's right. I don't know how they do it, really, but I have never tasted something so divine in sandwich form. The owner is an Aussie and can you imagine just moving from your home and even your country to go open up a little sandwich shop on a winding side street in Tokyo?

I think it's easy to get in a rut in terms of how life will go or should go, for that matter. But really, we have freedom. There is possibility. Who says you can't just try something new and have it be a roaring success?

And who says exactly what success looks like?

Is it tons of money piled up in a vault so that you can go swim through it, a la Scrooge MckDuck?

I don't think so; there are lots of people with lots of money who are not happy. Who are owned by it. Who jump out windows when the stock market crashes because, apparently, that's all they had to live for.

Is it the career that you've always wanted?

That could be part of it, but I don't think it's the whole kit and caboodle. Why else would a young man, Jason Raize, star as Simba in The Lion King on Broadway and then tragically end his own life? That makes me think that a dream job is not enough.

Maybe it has a lot more to do with love.

With people.

With God.

Maybe it's doing good honest work, whether it's music or organizing or driving or whatever--but it's working hard, earning some keep, and keeping those you love close by.

Maybe it is opening up a sandwich shop halfway across the world and coming home to someone you love every night.

Maybe it's fill in the blank with whatever your calling is and coming home to someone you love every night.

Or at least, you know, talking to them (for those of us who are currently in Japan or on other such adventures).

So yes. Let's live our lives--wherever that may be--to the fullest.

And tell those we love that we love them.

And show them also.

And continue to eat the best sandwiches. Ever.

At least for today, anyway.