March, Part 1: CREDO Marriage Retreat, First Anniversary

We took leave (military for vacation time) in March, 18 days of it. It was both a busy and restful time as we alternated between days in and days out. 

First, we went on a CREDO  (Chaplains Religious Enrichment Development Operation) retreat. Basically just a military hosted retreat run by chaplains, though, because it is military, not an openly religious event. We drove to Foster on Wednesday morning, March 5th, the retreat lasting until Friday afternoon. After a short briefing, we boarded a bus with 14 other couples, as this particular one was a marriage retreat. We rode for half an hour to the five-star Kafuu Resort in Onna, pretty much straight across the island from where we live. Since we live off-base, the ocean-view Japanese style rooms were familiar to us. 

 They gave us silk pajamas

We spent most of the few days in sessions, which we both enjoyed. Taught from a non-religious point of view, we worked our way through personality tests, root causes of surface reactions, communication strategies, and things of that nature. Being one of the youngest couples, we didn't have years of problems to sort through, but it was good to get a grounding in helpful habits for later years. 

We ate almost entirely Japanese cuisine, finding some new favorites, most notably the shikuwasa juice (made from a small green citrus) that was in our meeting room at all times. There were a few fun activities outside the classes, including a fancy dinner.

We loved getting to make clay shishi dogs

And we found a small building outside in the garden, and had fun playing with the items inside.

The CREDO retreat was a fun, relaxing way to kick off our leave, and good time spent together just before our anniversary.

Our first anniversary was Saturday, March 8th. We celebrated by going to a jewelry store called Grand Blue and getting rings for our right hands. Since we ordered our wedding rings online, picking rings together in person was new and special.

The pattern, called Minsa, is from old Okinawan tradition. In times past, a woman would weave this pattern onto a sash or scarf and give it to the man who was courting her as a way of expressing her attachment. Now, women will give a ring with this pattern to a man after he proposes and gives her a ring, as an engagement token for him. Rings with this pattern are also used as anniversary rings. The five dots represent life, and the four dots represent forever. In English, the meaning is "Yours Forever More."

We followed this with dinner at an Italian restaurant (just like on our wedding day) which, oddly enough, was also called Grand Blue. Even though it was Italian, it still served some traditional Japanese items, such as the plate of raw fish I didn't know I was getting (but ate anyway!). We loved the setting, sitting way up in a hill, eating in low lighting while it poured rain outside. The building seemed to have been converted from a house, which added to the charm. In all, the days leading up to our anniversary and the day itself were very special, celebrating one year together.