I have no idea whose shoes these were as there was nobody around when I walked past. But they seem perfectly colour coordinated with the bush so I took a photo and made a print on Japanese washi for my journal. Life’s full of quirky surprises.

As I wrote in a previous post my life has just changed for the better in a way that I wouldn’t have thought possible a year ago. It still doesn’t feel real. I was intentionally vague previously and I’m not going to go into much detail here but if you read this post that I wrote for a different website you’ll get a pretty good idea on what I’m talking about. In short, my wife and I are adopting a baby here in Japan and the process has already begun.

On the very same day that we brought the child home a good friend passed away. He had so many good things going for him but in the last couple of years made some reckless life choices and threw them all away. Now he is gone. Forever. The last few years of his life saddens and angers me because it could have been so different. And it’s the second close death* we’ve had to deal with in as many months. There are lessons to be learnt.

One of them is the way I go about my day. It has changed significantly since bringing the new member of our family home. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting. I wrongly thought I’d have no spare time but instead I’ve found myself having solid blocks of time that I value much more and am far more intentional in how I go about using. Far less procrastination, more decisiveness. There’s so much to do.

It’s a wake up call to reality and responsibility. A good kick in the balls from life telling you it’s time to get your act together.

Time has never felt so precious.

*Number 8