And Jazz danced...

play our song. Kelli Ali - Sunlight in the rain
Because of the excitement and the anticipation of the coming morning, I lay in bed a long time with eyes closed and then with both of them open staring up at the ceiling, wondering if I should get up because sleep was so elusive to me. I put the light on and read a little, I quietly played some music and finally in desperation I got up to make a hot milk drink and looked enviously at my cat sleeping nicely on her bed. After my comforting drink I then hid myself under the duvet. Thinking hard I realized that the sandman may not find me under there, so I revealed myself and laid on top my bed. The clock changed so painfully slowly and seemingly with great effort but my eyes eventually closed. The sandman came but he forgot to leave me a dream and the last few hours of short a night dissolved into a single moment...

When my eyes slowly opened again, they saw that the sunlight was trying to peek past my blinds and turning over I saw my clock said two minutes before I had set my alarm. I smiled for a moment imagining that we have body clocks that our subconscious minds set to wake us if we think about it before we sleep. "Tick tick" it goes! I got up and readied myself and went for the train. Of course I fell asleep on the train which gratefully made the passage that much faster and eachminute brought me closer to my awaiting symphony. It also allowed me to catch up on lost sleep. A slight drizzle across the window when I arrived and my eyes opened. But no Grey will ever take the color away from my Blue sky.
In the Railway station is a model of the castle here, Himejijo (姫路城) ,which is 700 years old and perhaps one of the best preserved castles in all of Japan and is a national cultural treasure.

As I said, a slightly rainy morning but when I saw her there smiling and waiting in the main hall for me the sun came out again in all her glory. Such radiance blazing! That first magic moment! That fulfilling first embrace is like the realization of a long held dream suddenly coming true and all my worries melted away from my mind and the pleasure of the heart is shared across the bridging of our two souls. If such a moment could last forever it would be eternal ecstasy, the heaven, the paradise we all secretly yearn. Her hotel here was the Nikko Himeji which is just across the street from the train station so not far for us to walk. The other actors from her theater company were all booked into the Toyoko hotel which is just across the street from our hotel and perhaps one star less. She just wanted a little something special and apart from them for us to be alone together, which is really nice and considerate of her. Hitomi's room was quite spacious and light and we just needed some time to share our news of what's been happening in our worlds over tea and we also needed to share our now unchained love, so for a while the Planet Earth outside our door didn't exist. I'm so very sorry to you all that if for a few hours your time and space suddenly disappeared from all your lives. The theory of Einstein and Carl Sagan assures me that you wouldn't have noticed it. But it came back later once we opened the door again. I promise! It's just a matter of reality, both yours and mine.

Later in the afternoon we had an Indian curry lunch in the baobab restaurant whose theme looked very rustic and almost antique. Then we had a look around the local stores and I bought some beautiful souvenirs. She showed me the hall by the Dokkyo University where they will be performing on Friday night and the weekend. During the evening we had a wonderful dinner together in the hotel where I must say the service and dishes were excellent. Then with soft music and fragrant candles filling our room with soft tones and the aroma of rose and lavender, we talked the night away and shared our togetherness.

On Wednesday morning after our bath and breakfast we went up to see the castle and although it was not a bright day the place was beautiful with the city zoo and the beautiful kokoen gardens to the right and left of the entrance. It was a tiring morning because everything inside the castle is walking uphill on slopes and ramps, steps and stairs as we progression our tour forever upwards.
The outside is breathtaking scenery everywhere and the insides are the living history with many displays of relics from our feudal past.




Everything from depicting the castle in past days and how it was built to suits of Armour and swords and ancient firearms to recent photographs of Tom Cruise, who filmed part of his movie, the last samurai, here in the grounds.

From the top of the castle which is officially six floors but seems more like sixteen as you climb them. We are looking south and straight down Otemae avenue. Here we see the train station at its very end with the distant red sign and the white building directly behind that is our hotel. Then we walked around the gardens. The whole place is beautiful and of course I would love to see it again with more time to enjoy it but best of all things amidst such splendid scenery was the spending of precious time with... ♥♥.
The bubbles of champagne on my tongue both tickle and excite me.

Time being a relative and usually unkind thing when you are enjoying yourself passes ultra quickly. Saying goodbye at the station was heart wrenching and I hid that feeling by wishing her luck for the rest of her tour. One final kiss and hug bye-bye. May eighteen will see her return home again. Is that another month away? I suffer the pain of wishing away the days of my life and the evaporation of those days hurrying her to me once more.

Home seems full of the usual vibrant neon's and excited buzz of conversation and the music from the chrome plated attractions and I know I left something desperately appealing far behind me and there is a small void within me begging to be filled once more by her presence. But I'd like to tell you that for two days and one wonderful night, a distant music reached toward my heart and Jazz danced!

Oh how she danced.

I'm home again and my dancing shoes have been put away!