Farewell to a Good Friend

Before I talk about our farewell to Hozumi, I am taking a brief commercial break to ask everyone to help Angelo find his dog, Oreo. He was last seen in the China Town, Garapan area. If you see him, please return him to Angelo as soon as possible. Oreo is friendly and should come right up to you if you call him. This morning we all went down to the airport to say 'farewell' to our good friend Hozumi. We've been friends for many years, shared many dinners, talks, tears and laughter. I will miss her very much. It is so hard to say good-bye to people you love. I guess that's one of the big setbacks of living out here. For Hozumi's final weekend, we did some "last" things together. We chose things that had become our tradition. For the last few birthdays, Hozumi has treated me to a "nailing". So Sarah and I went to the shop with her one more time and got our nails painted. Here's a picture of my very pretty toenails. Tomoko is the nail artist. This picture shows Sarah's fingernails, too. They are so lovely. I protected my nails while diving by putting socks on before putting on my dive boots. It worked great. And here we are . . . at the airport again, saying good-bye. Hozumi, we love you! You are always family to us. I know we'll connect again in other places. Yes, I cried. Sarah says I'm banned from the airport when she leaves.