gotohealth's Blog

The picture is still clear in my mind, 70 years later. I am standing in the outside stair-well that leads into the church basement. The sun is shining, but I feel cold and the confirmation that I am not favored as I look through the door window while the rest of the kids are starting a meeting inside.  

 

It was 1955, I was 16, a junior in high school, part of my own ethnic group of 12 or 15 of us who were the Japanese/Methodist Youth Fellowship (MYF), in Ontario, Oregon, population 5000. After the WWII unjust mass “rejection of Japanese in America”, we continued to socialize within our own Japanese community. There was also a Buddhist church and Japanese Community Hall. Ontario’s Mayor, unlike other Idaho/Oregon communities near the Minidoka incarceration, was receptive of 800 or so Japanese choosing Ontario to start over.

 

Jane had been elected president and I was her church friend, so that was likely why I had been elected vice-president. Then, Jane’s family moved back to their West Coast Watsonville, CA, homestead, and a few of the kids were objecting to my being moved up to the presidency. Reverend Fujimori’s son was part of the group.

 

I was five years older than my sister and the rest of my seven cousins, living in Ontario, were even younger. My mom had depression and was sick all the time. My father was not a social climber and we were very very poor. I worked all my free time, clerking at my uncle’s grocery store and gave my money to Dad. I had also skipped fourth grade and was younger than my high school classmates.

 

Jane was just plain nice and my same age, but she was a sophomore and lived way out on their farm. Telephone service was a party line with a central operator monitoring calls. Therefore, I had no one sharing with me about how to dress, style my hair nor have social adequacy girl talks. 

 

On this one Sunday afternoon, the MYF meeting was convened in the basement of the Methodist church and as the meeting got started, Reverend took me aside, escorted me out the door saying, “Wait out here!” and closed the door. I could slightly hear Reverend scolding the group, telling them about Robert’s Rules of Order, how they needed to accept the fact that I had been elected to the position and how they should be courteous.  

 

The recollection still generates some tenseness in my neck and shoulders, but college dorm living with experiences in a sorority, a great marriage, raising children and grandchildren, a successful home-business, friends and writing; waters my  “roots and heritage values” for a great life.

 

The deeper “inner child” regularly needs loving and acceptance every day as I seek and continue my path of contentment and fulfillment, choosing OMOIDE writing and CONNECTIONS!

 

 

When my younger daughter came back to live in the house in which she grew up with her two girls, I turned most of the house over to her and began spending most of my day in my room.

 

I found sitting at my desk and listening to podcasts for new learning, several hours at a time, gave me back aches!!! Also, my balance was deteriorating as I walked, especially up and down stairs.

 

Therefore, I knew I needed to exercise more and brought the rebounder from where Sam used to use it downstairs, to my room along with the exercise ball. I decided to sit on the ball instead of a chair with the computer on my lap. Sitting on the ball needed to be higher to reach my desktop. 

 

Then, I realized the exercise ball on the rebounder could be the right height to work at my desktop with the computer. I tried it out and found I no longer got back aches - even watching a couple hours of a movie or podcast. 

 

Now, I can spend all day off and on typing and watching U-Tube without back aches!!!

 

Also I can rotate, jumping on the rebounder and getting my steps. I also took off the hand-grip bar on the rebounder and installed the overhead exercise hand-pulleys. 

 

It all works great!!!

 

 

Mom, Sis & Kirin got home from the Yakima State Competition at 1:00a, with  tear tired EXHAUSTED faces - SMILING.

 

Granddaughter get's up 4 days a week for their 6:15a practices, with frequent performances for Mercer Island activities in between and even a lot of Saturdays. It's a year round sport with hardly any summer break. 

 

Last night, the Mercer Island District School Board honored MI Drill team for getting 1st place for the first time in MI High School history. It's an honor to get first place in one category, but they accomplished it in all three - Pom, Military, Kick. 

 

Kira gave a short story at the meeting of how it felt saying, "When they announced the winners that evening and started with third place and they announced another school; I thought, oh well, maybe we have a chace for second. Then another school was announced for second. I didn't think we could have gotten first so when they annouced us in first place, I screamed and was in tears, not believing it."

 

Wow!! Congrats

This past year, I lost 5 people who would have been on my vision board. They are friends and family I have had for over 50 years of my life. But that's life and what I have to go forward is great!

 

The Vision Board is  my homework for the course I'm taking calling for, "ONENESS - CONNECTIONS", for moving forward in my life, by knowing myself.

 

This morning I listened to Dr. Ethan Kross in the Psychology Department at the U of Michigan. Current 2025 research and podcast interview academics suggest, “It’s important to know ourselves for Fulfillment of Purpose in our human existence. Stories of our heritage give us 50% of the tools for managing our emotions which is the key to fulfillment." Therefore, I was lucky to have been inspired to start the OMOIDE writing group in 1991with four of us, Margaret Yasuda, Chuck Kato, Del Uchida and me, meeting weekly around my kitchen table. We started with just conversations about our growing up years. I had started collecting documentation on the Japanese Experience in the Pacific Northwest 20 years earlier, but I also decided it was time to create some of our own documentation with stories and writing. 

 

I was shocked to learn my Great Grandpa came to the USA as early as 1896. Even here on the USA west coast states our history books and education had nothing about Asian Immigration when I was in school in Oregon. Although I’m third generation and have 5th generation grandchildren, I'm still asked, “When did you come to America?” I’m thinking, “Even the Blacks are American.”

 

My Japanese Great Grandpa, Jitsumatsu Tsukamaki, came to America in 1896 when the Yusen Shipping Company’s Miike Maru established a trade route from Kobe to Seattle. The Japanese steamship carried to Seattle a cargo of teas, silk goods, raw silk, camphor, curios, matting, soy oil, and paper. The vessel steamed away with lumber, flour, raw cotton, heavy hardware, fish, leather, nails, beer, wire, and tobacco.  

 

Gr Grandpa “J” was a small farmer in the northern outskirts of Hiroshima. The fact that he was educated enough to know about America, had the connections and money to acquire the passport and ticket is amazing! He was required to have a return ticket to Japan, as well as paying an agent for the passport and a western outfit of clothing. It added up to almost a whole year’s average salary. 

 

My collecting of documentation on the Japanese Experience for the UW Suzzallo Library had started as early as 1970, which was funded by a two year grant and funding ran out. I remained on a committee Min Masuda Archival Committee, that met about once a year though the subsequent child raising years. After the girls left home, I was inspired to further get my master’s degree.