Turning 76 years old

As reiterated in this blog, I was born at the very same place as I am living right now. Around WWII, our aunt was managing a small sanatorium for tuberculosis patients who were seriously ill and had no one caring for them. It was among woods very sparsely populated area. My parents have met there, have married and have owned their family while working at the facility. I have only few memories then. I still remember our home was literally a shack made of woods and grass. No windows with sash at all. Only a room inside with a hearth in the center. As already told before, one of the earliest memories in my life was hymn in a capella flown on breeze, which the patients and the staff sung. A memory in serenity and peacfulness.

Before I entered an elementary school, my parents have decided to move to Tokyo. Parents might think of the chance of our education. And it was the time when anti tuberculosis medicine became available and tuberculosis could be cured. They might have judged that such a small sanatorium would be of no necessity in the society in the near future. Actually, our aunt has decided to close it down in a few years after our move.

My father went a suburb of Tokyo a bit earlier than we did and built a wooden tiny house renting a property from a friend. It is shown back on the right on this photo. It was a little bigger than the shack we used to live here. Still a poor and small house. The houses in front might be cages for chicken. Our house was comparable to the cages. It was 1955 or so.

   

 

Both of my parents have worked really hard. Father as a house keeper at a few different hospital/clinic while mother as a nurse at a Salvation Army hospital. In a few years, we could move to a public apartment nearby. It was still a small one for our family. Our parents have had three of us, their children, complete having professional education. Sister became a nurse while I and my brother chose to be MD. In my case, I have first learned mechanical engineering at a college. I could not be interested in doing with drawing diagrams or doing with machines at factory. Interested more in something human, I mean, directly involved in human, I would like to be an MD. Despite of limited amount of income, our parents let me go to a med university in Tokyo. No complaints from them. I could spend youth as I would like to. Playing with ham radio since teenage days and even cello at the university orchestra. I am sure it has been a burden to my parents but they never said no to me. 

A couple of days ago, I dreamed of coming to see and bring back my parents to this place. They seemed to have been on a journey together. Heading to the train station we were supposed to meet, in the dream, I could not be happier expecting seeing them after such a long interval than I was at any occasion. It was a mysteriously pleasant feeling. Unluckily, I could not see them in the dream. I woke up in that height of happiness.  

I have turned to be 76 years today. I would spend this day with gratitude to my parents. And also to my family and friends as well. It was not a life of success at all. To be fair, it is full of failure and regrets. But thank to my parents' efforts and the others, I could live so long. It is the day when I recall all of them with much gratitude.