Wakayama Cat Train🐱🚄 & Our Sixth Year, Loved Back to a Smile😊

Story

We went to a not-so-famous little city in Japan – Wakayama. It’s much quieter than the big cities, life moves slowly, and it feels easy to just… spend a day together. Japan really has so many cute things. There’s even a special train line that runs a kitten-themed train. We were super excited to ride it and collect the stamps, but encountered a little unexpected episode along the way. If you collect four stamps, you can get a complete postcard of the kitten train. On the second stamp, my wifey pressed down at a misaligned angle, the picture got smudged and he suddenly became very quiet and sad. In that moment I was reminded that, even when we’re “grown-ups”, we still get upset over a tiny stamp, and we still want to be held and comforted. Later, a kind station lady gave him a new stamp card. Then, gradually, a smile spread across his face. That feeling of “a tiny regret being gently fixed by the world” was really, really sweet. In the afternoon, we climbed over hills to a small hidden seaside spot. There’s a Japanese garden by the sea, and it had that vibe we love in every single picture. We walked around for a long time and finally sat down there, ready to have a proper talk and set our 6th-anniversary Q&A against the backdrop of this autumn. On the way, there was the kitten-themed train, a bit of sadness, and also the moments of being comforted. If you ask what our sixth year looks like, it’s probably just a little sulking, and a lot of being loved back to a smile.