8/05/2021

#724: The Box


Let’s get started!


Key Words & Phrases:

  1. Skin and bones   痩せこけた

  2. go through         調べる

  3. stroke                脳卒中

  4. stage                段階/ life stage 

  5. Hawaiian fire dance 


My father is currently receiving hospice care. That means he is near the end of his life.  He has had 3 strokes already, so it is difficult for him to speak.  He is just skin and bones now.  I wonder what it is like to be at this stage of his life.  I am spending a lot of time going through a huge box of old photographs I had never seen before. Pictures of him as a small child standing next to his grandfather on a farm. Pictures of him as an energetic high school boy wearing a red suit and standing next to his sports car.  Pictures of him with my mother on a beach in Hawaii.  A time of innocence and purity.  I could see how he had changed into a man; a sailor in the Navy like I was.  He was a musician who sang and played the guitar and even made a CD.  He performed the Hawaiian fire dance at parties and taught me how to throw a net to catch fish. To look at him now, he has just become like a baby again, unable to do anything for himself.  But in the box were the memories of his lifetime; his smiles, his happiness, his energy, and his spirit.  Thanks to the box, I could see the beauty inside of him. 


私の父は最近では、ホスピスケアを受けています。つまり人生の終焉が近いという事です。彼はこれまでにすでに三回脳卒中を起こしていて、しゃべることが困難な状態にあります。今ではすっかり痩せてしまって、骨と皮のようです。私はふと、人生のこんなステージに身を置くというのはどんな感じなのだろうとおもったりします。私が今多くの時間を費やして調べているのは、大きな箱、一箱分の写真です。今まで見た事のない沢山の古い写真です。

  農場で、父の祖父の隣に立つ小さな子供の時の父の写真、真っ赤なスーツ姿でスポーツカーの横に立つ活気あふれる高校生の写真、ハワイのビーチで母と一緒に写る父の写真、無垢で純粋な時代。彼がどのように一人の大人に変化していったのか、(かつて私がそうであったように海軍軍人として) 見てとることができます。父はまた、ギターを弾き、歌も歌うミュージシャンで、CDまで作りました。パーティーではハワイアンファイヤーダンスを披露したり、また私には魚を捕るネットの投げ方を教えてくれたりもしました。しかし今の父は一人では何もできない赤ん坊にもどってしまったかのようにみえるのです。

  それでも、この箱の中には、彼の歩んだ人生の数々の証があります。微笑み、幸せ、エネルギー、彼のスピリットともいえる彼そのものがあるのです。この箱のおかげで、私は父の内なる美しさを見る事ができるのです。



******Thank-you, Yaeko san for your translation!*****


;) IMHO… in my humble opinion

#724 turned out to be the toughest one for me to translate ever.  Actually It took a whole day to start to work on it, in spite of the fact that I had been keen to read it like other fans of his blog.  Finally 724 arrived and I started to read excitedly….but  in the middle of the reading I found  myself  fighting back my tears. And by the time I managed to finish reading,  all the letters in the blog were blurred. Since then I have been in a kind of  state of numbness. I was so moved that I never found any words to it and it seemed to be impossible for me to put them into Japanese . If tears had any color , mine would have been 7 colored. Lots of emotions were there. I was completely struck by the beauty in ‘the box’ .  Thank you .       


ブログ724 は私にとって今までで一番困難なブログでした。実際原稿を読み終えてから、取り掛かるのに丸一日かかりました。ジョンのブログファン同様私もとても心待ちにしていたのに、です。途中涙を堪えながら読み進めましたが、読み終えるころには文字が霞んでいました。感動というのか、突き動かされた衝撃でぼーっとしています。私の日本語を付けたのでは、台無しにしてしまうなぁーと。そんなthe box の美しさ打たれました。



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2 件のコメント:

  1. I am about the same age as your father. Recently, I'm thinking of throwing away a lot of memorable photos while I'm fine. But after reading this blog, I have second though that it would be okay to leave it to my children.

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    1. Really? But you look about 20 years younger! You are more like my big sister. It must be all the sweets that you eat every night. Yea, I think would be a good idea to leave a box of photos and things that will tell your children who you are. I was thinking that in this digital age, however people store everything online, including me. Be sure to leave a memo with your login information and password so that we can snoop through your emails and photos online, ha ha!

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