So today was an appropriately rainy and miserable day. Wife and I headed out to Chiba, east of Tokyo, where we first met and lived when I came to Japan in 1994.
To attend the funeral of Master, the awesome guy who ran the local yakitori (chicken sticks) place that was the neighborhood since well before I ever arrived.
He was 51, survived by his wife, junior-high school aged daughter and high school aged son.
Pancreatic cancer.
So what deep and wise lessons did I learn from this experience? The second death this week, btw. My friend's father also died of cancer, though he was much older. And she is pregnant, so there is some consolation in knowing that the circle of life continues on there...
Anyway, no liberating enlightenment for me. Some fond memories of fun times now 10 years in the past, and the knowledge that I am doing the PCP not just to look good naked, but to try and be alive as long as I can to provide for my own wife, son, and daughter.
After the funeral, on the train back to Tokyo, my wife somberly eye-balled me and deadpanned: "Don't you DARE die on me: live long."
Abso-fucking-lutely right I will do my damnedest to ensure I live as long and well as possible.
After the funeral we headed to the lunch buffet at the French Kitchen in the Grand Hyatt; we deserved a little something to lift our spirits and spend some quality no-kids time together. And the vegetable buffet was amazing.
The whole day has renewed my vigor and confirmed my priorities. I may yet die of cancer, but at least I am not actively inviting it, or any of the other myriad avoidable/preventable diseases that are ensured by a life of sloth and gluttony.
And now I am heading to fighting, to burn off the remnants of this icky day and put me one step closer to peakfection.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
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Master was a great guy. A Waseda grad who decided to dump the corporate world to start his own Yakitori stand...because that was what made him happy. He was always smiling, and that's how I'll always remember him.
ReplyDeleteStrong stuff
ReplyDeleteMy wifes father died of cancer. He spent his entire career saving sick days so he coudl retire early. He died less that 6 months after his early retirement.
that motivated me to be a tad more in the day and to take time and do things now with the peopel I care about. I feel like this work is propelling me down a road I am comfortable with...at peace with.
Go team Go!
Life, man. Sending good vibes your way.
ReplyDeleteMan, I met Master, however briefly. That restaurant was the best. And he treated you like you worked there, which was cute.
ReplyDeleteWay I see it, we were nothing before we were born, and didn't seem to mind much, so why fret about what it's like to be dead? The only thing left is to focus on life: getting the most out of it, getting as much of it as you can, and saving nothing for the last minute. Nothing!
We talk a lot about extending our lifespans through our training but it's really all about being able to feel fully alive in the one long present moment of our lives. A moment which has an end date fast approaching.
ReplyDelete