Sayonara Hidetaka

For over two years, now, I've had the honor and pleasure of tutoring my Japanese student, Hidetaka, every Tuesday evening. I do this tutoring, on a volunteer basis, through the Temple Literacy Council. Hidetaka was not the typical Literacy Council student, though, since he did not need help with reading skills, but with English as a second language. He was a veterinarian in Japan, and holds a second doctoral degree, as well. While here in the US, he was doing research for Texas A&M. He and his wife have two adorable children, both born while they were here in America. Dan and I have really enjoyed getting to know them.

About a month ago, Hidetaka told me that he and his family were going to return home, to Japan, in November. He hopes to come back to the States one day, but for family and career reasons, he needs to go home for now. We've become good friends, and I will miss our Tuesday night sessions.

Today Hidetaka, his wife, Kaori, and the children came by to bid us farewell. We agreed to keep in contact.

How thoughtful! They brought a beautiful bouquet of roses for me.

As a parting gift, I painted this memento of Texas for Hidetaka and Kaori. Hopefully it will remind them of many good times they had during their Texas sojourn. We hope to see them again some day.