If I were doing this meme, today would be an extensive post. I've got Mom and Dad, Bill, and Jeanette (all of whom I look up to as parents). They're all great, and I could say a lot about them. But where it really gets interesting are the multitudes of parental figures I had in Japan.

My homestays were structured so that I was basically part of the family. This included everyday interactions as well as special family time... I looked to them for advice, I learned from them, I did chores for them, and they accepted me as one of their own. It's hard for me to describe the relationship to someone who hasn't experienced it, but suffice to say that they were my parents in all but the biological sense of the word.

So lets see... Katje, Jeff, Bill, Jeanette, Tokio, Mayumi, Kouki, Kozue, Naota, Tomoko, Takayoshi, Naoko, Yuka, Norimasa, Kazuko, Masahiro, and Junko. I have trouble remembering some of those names, because aside from Bill and Jeanette, they're all "Mom" or "Dad" to me. They've all been there for me at one time or another.

Is it weird for someone to have this many mother and father figures? Maybe, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that I honestly consider each and every one of them one of my parents.

Geez, now I want to go back to Japan. :p