Ah, blessed terra firma, we’re back! Australia did not want MJ to leave; it took three days of travel to get home. It was a minor trial of changed plans, delayed flights, and missed connections.

We hopped across the country: Port Lincoln to Adelaide to Sydney to Cairns to Tokyo. We tallied how far we’ve travelled this past week. Including car travel, we went just about 19,000 kilometers. That’s 11,800 miles.

And at the end of our journey, all of our friends were waiting for MJ. Flowers, condolences, food, wine, lots of hugging packed into my living room. Thanks to everyone who came, waited so long for us to arrive, and offered MJ their support.