LATEST UPDATE  October 2021: I thought I’d throw the date in there just to keep track of things. My last post was the year I turned fifty…so 2017. So yep, it’s been a hot minute since my last post. Things have changed quite a bit since then…I’m officially an orphan since the unexpected passing of my dearest mum in February 2021. She was my biggest champion and support in writing and in life in general. Part of why I’m writing again is in her honour. I miss her more than words can adequately express…though I will try. In addition to being motherless, I’m now an empty-nester as my amazing, quirky and talented daughter (original inspiration for the blog) has now MOVED OUT OF MY HOUSE. It’s weird. The house is oddly clean most of the time. I miss her a lot, but actually it’s fine. She’s happy and was totally ready to have her own space as I think all the family togetherness during the plague put her over the edge. Also, my sushi-loving Golden Menace (AKA Leo the Lion) passed away in April 2020 during the nastiest COVID lockdowns.  His death was sad but he did live a long and happy life for much longer than anyone thought…having sushi once a week for about the last six months of his life as we wanted him to go out in style. An epic hound. So I won’t be writing very much about Karis, not that she would care as I don’t think she even reads this blog. I’ve got some ideas. Stay tuned. It won’t all be doom and gloom. I promise.

UPDATE: Please read below to see the history of the blog if you’re interested. I fulfilled the goal I set for myself when I started the blog in that I posted every day whilst living in Japan with Karis. Coming home was a drag after having a marvelous sabbatical from real life. However, being a writer, one needs to write and a blog is a marvelous discipline so I decided to keep on posting as I’m still a mother—though Karis resists most attempts at parenting—at least I still have the dog and a lot of good stories I haven’t written yet.

ORIGINAL: To be honest, it seemed a little pompous to write a blog about my life as it isn’t actually that interesting; however, it ended up being a good idea for a variety of reasons. The main one being that I was heading to Tokyo with my daughter in July 2014 and might have something worth sharing besides the expected laments of parenting a teenage girl. So at the urging of some friends (you know who you are), I took the plunge.

In case you’re wondering about the title…often when I am picking up my daughter (a bit of a career at this point in my life), I text her to let her know that “the mothership has arrived.” Using Tales from the Mothership as a title seemed to fit because it doesn’t limit me to writing only about Japan as much as Model and Mother in the Land of the Rising Sun or Model Mum Takes Tokyo would have. Also it’s probably the least offensive to the child.

The world of instant communication didn’t exist when I travelled back in the day. I wrote in a journal in the time-honoured fashion. In my house, there are numerous stained and worn travel journals, stuffed with museum tickets, postcards, business cards, advertisements and little drawings; also phone numbers and addresses of long ago travelling companions. I’m not sure I’m ready to give up on the creation of a physical artifact, but I’ll give this blog thing a whirl. I hope you are entertained, inspired and/or educated; perhaps recognize some common ‘parenting a teenager’ scenarios and maybe learn a bit about places we’ve travelled or the ups and downs of mothering a model. Feel free to leave comments or questions 🙂