Bilingualism was not the norm in our family tradition, except for distant ancestors who spoke Gaelic. The only language study by immediate family members was of Latin by my parents. In the first year that Japanese was offered at my high school in the 1970's, I was prompted by the teachers to try this new offering. I acquiesced without giving it much thought, but this proved to be a life changing decision. I ambled through high school and university studying Japanese, and then found myself living in Japan, the language having chosen me rather than the other way around. I found myself having thoughts and conversations that I would never have in English, and discovered both a new world and a new self.