The Ceremony

[Mac]

I wrote this at seven months.

 

 

We had a wonderful service for my wife. So many of our college friends and other close friends were able to make it from the East Coast and the West Coast. We probably had about 170 people at the service. We moved here 7 years ago. So I was glad that so many people were able to attend. Afterwards, we had a formal reception at my niece's house. That was followed by family and close friends coming over to our house.

 

It's a long story, but I've been exposed to Japanese culture since I was in grade school. My wife and I met in college. After college she joined the Peace Corps and was in C?te d'Ivoire. She travelled for awhile after that and then returned to the states. Soon she was ready to travel again and took a job teaching in Japan. Cindy had a gift for languages. She taught herself (no formal classes) to read, write and speak Japanese during the two years that she lived there. We stopped in Japan on our honeymoon. We went back there several times during our marriage. Several of our Japanese friends would send their children to stay with us for extended visits.

 

I could go on and on about our appreciation of Japanese culture. If you were to see the inside of our house, it would be apparent.

 

In August I went and climbed Mt. Fuji and had a memorial service for Cindy on top of Mt. Fuji. Fuji-san is very special in Japanese culture, so I thought that this would be a very fitting way to honor her. I was joined by some of my in-laws. I feel blessed that I was able to do this. I also feel blessed that her family has been so kind to me.

 

I also feel blessed that we had good weather. It was raining just before we started our ascent. It started raining again as we finished our descent.