It was a letter I was expecting. Not because anyone told me it was coming. I just had a feeling that someday we would get a call to go back to Japan. “Long time indeed since we’ve had a chat…..sitting with you and Maureen and some good beers seems a long time ago,” Matthew wrote. Matthew is the Head of School in Nagoya and was Don’s boss when he was principal seven years ago. “How are you both? Crazy days and I do hope you are staying well.”
Before the pandemic, maybe a couple of years ago (who keeps track of time, anymore?) we stopped in to see Matthew in Nagoya on our way to spend six weeks in Kyushu and Kyoto.
“I have an ulterior motive for this out of the blue mail. There is a school in Tokyo looking for an interim Head of School for one year….” I could hear Matthew’s gentle British accent through the cyber pages. “No idea if this is something that is even on your radar as a possible…but thought I would send this your way in case you felt like a year back in Japan. They contacted me today asking for any recommendations and I thought I’d drop you a line…”
Don didn’t tell me when he first got the email. Not the next few days. “Mo, I felt I owed it to you to tell you. I got an email from Matthew,” he said.
“Matthew Parr?” I asked incredulously. Maybe Matthew was coming to New York. But, then with the pandemic and Japan nearly in lockdown. Probably not.
“Yes, he’s wondering if we are interested in going back to Japan. To Tokyo. To be a Head of School at a little international school. They need our help.”
I stopped to breathe. Don’t just jump in and tell him what to do, I told my self. Be calm. Be careful. Be a grown up, I thought. What do you think?” I asked as if I really wondered. What did he think? Of course, we wanted to go back. Well, let me edit that sentence. I, let me put that in bold, I really wanted to go back to Japan. I didn’t need to think about it. Wow! Wow! Wow! What an exciting opportunity. Maybe a portal. (I’ve been watching too many science fiction movies during this Pandemic…)
“I don’t know. It is going to be a lot of work…” he said. Was Don hoping I’d agree? And let him, just this once, stay in his little backyard? Stay and work in the garden, cut some wood, do stuff you do on 20 acres of woods?
Who was it for me to disagree? Don deserved his garden, his wood chopping, fixing the roof. And, of course being a Head of School in a struggling school would be a huge amount of work. We’d done that kind of work before.
To work with an owner of a small school could be a nightmare. And Don would be doing the job. Not me. “It will be a lot of work. I can’t imagine what a mess this school is in. Whew! But, still it is very cool that you’ve been asked. It’s an honor that Matthew came looking for you all the way to New York from Japan. And, during the Pandemic!” I said.
I was just getting started… “And, besides, what else do you have to do, anyway? Imagine… Japanese food, speaking Japanese, temples, Fall leaves, great culture, Japanese food, sushi, udon, teriyaki, Japanese food….This retirement stuff is highly overrated, don’t you think? We could GO TO JAPAN! It is so cool, too…this invite also says that you - at 72 years old - you are not dead, yet! You are AWESOME!”
I didn’t go to law school for nothing! Don looked at me, a bit dazed. Hmmmmm. He had been overwhelmed with my passion to live abroad before. And, what could he say? He is a star! He likes little schools. And, he is a sucker for wanting to help people that need his help.
So Don started a Zoom relationship with the owner, and began to learn of the mounting problems that the school was suffering. Within a few days of Don’s first call, the last Head of School quit. Just up and left, without telling anyone. Hmmmmmm.
