Soldiering On – Finding My Homes

I entered the search-word “Okinawa” into eBay one night and soon found myself in a long-forgotten world of Okinawa-related memorabilia. I could buy things I remembered from my past, from people all around the world, and in particular, a woman in the Air Force, stationed on Okinawa, at Kadena Air Base, whose eBay handle was “Maneki-Neko-Nook,” and whose name was Kathleen (KC) Watson. I had put the world of Okinawa out of my mind years ago; it was lost in the past. But I surrounded myself with reminders from my past. I decorated my first apartment with Asian décor and when Hello Kitty came ashore in America, I was drawn to all those comforting little trinkets that American girls became so fond of. Hello Kitty reminded me of the past—it was a Japanese creation similar to the early anime designs that were commonplace on Okinawa back in the 1960s. Hello Kitty gave me a good feeling. KC had just what I wanted! She offered antique kimonos and obis, Okinawan pottery ashtrays and shisa dogs, and many more things I remembered from the sixties. Through eBay, I located reference material about the 1972 Reversion of Okinawa back to Japan, and an account of what life had been like at the turn-of-the-century by a missionary woman based on Okinawa. I bought “home-movie-style” videotapes from a guy in Montana who had been stationed on Okinawa in the late 1980s. His ever-patient wife handled the steering wheel while he panned his video camera through the window to capture endless footage of Okinawa. I desperately kept my voyeuristic eyes peeled for some street or neighborhood that might look remotely familiar! Sometimes the radio was playing and the kids were talking, but Mick McClary kept on taping and narrating the sights for his relatives back in the States. I enjoyed spying on his family. I even came across a doll made in the sixties by an army wife who was a member of the Shuri Women’s Club. Many military wives signed up for classes back then. Mom took a Japanese doll-making class and made one of those fierce-looking kabukis as well as a geisha doll. When I had some details about my trip, I e-mailed KC to see how she felt about meeting in person. Some eBayers are quite friendly during a transaction, but don’t ever expect to meet their buyers face-to-face. KC was not shy; she was enthusiastic and responded that she would be happy to meet me and my friends, and even offered to take us to a local flea market! What an incredible opportunity! This was right up my flea market alley! Julia was equally excited. She didn’t have a clue about eBay, but was up for any adventure I could provide. I e-mailed KC with the name of the hotel where we would be staying. Soon after Julia and I walked into our room on Friday evening, the phone was ringing. “Some man is asking for you,” Julia whispered, as she handed the phone to me. It was KC. And she did sound like a man over the phone. She had a raspy voice, and said she would be at the hotel early the next morning at 0700 hours to take us to that Okinawan flea market she mentioned. When I hung up, Julia and I just looked at each another. We already had discovered one thing we had in common—we definitely weren’t “morning people.” We called Anna in her room to alert her to the early morning rendezvous. I hit the shower, and Julia busied herself setting the alarm on the nightstand clock radio—for what we both agreed was “way too early.”