Victoria Thomas: A homecoming to remember

At the beginning of the summer, I found out that my brother will be finally be coming home after living in Japan for the past eight years.

Anthony left for Japan when I was a freshman in high school and has come back only for a handful of holidays. While abroad, he met his wife, Aoi, and got married. They now have two baby boys named James and William.

When my family found out that Anthony would be coming home, we immediately started planning a welcome home party and a family vacation. In May we all packed our bags to head to the beach.

The timing was inconvenient for me because I was just moving into a new apartment with my best friend Kayla and her fiancé Todd. The week we moved into the apartment, I was supposed to leave for the beach. Kayla knew this was an important trip for me, so she offered to unpack my things and set up my bedroom. While my new roommates put our apartment together, my family and I were at the beach taking photos and enjoying our time together.

After we got back from the beach I was able to move in completely. My dog now has friends- another dog and three cats- to play with while I am at work.

My brother and his family are now comfortably moved into their home at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina. They visit me whenever they can and my nephews love the new apartment- mainly the pool above everything else.

I cannot express how happy I am with everything that changed this summer and all the good that followed.