What's inside of me
Mariko Tagami
The rain in the middle of last week caused the cherry blossoms to completely fall, but we are now in the season when the green of the plants and trees all around us is dazzling.
Before I knew it, a year had passed since I started helping out with Utsushiki.
At the register, I made duplicate credit card payments...
Online stores often ship earrings without earring backs attached.
I'm so laid back that I often can't finish my work on time...
I feel grateful for the people at Utsushiki and others who accept me even though they complain about how exhausted I am, and for the encounters and connections I have every day.
When I think back, a future that I never could have imagined a year ago is now right in front of me, and if I go back even further, I feel like I'm a completely different person to the person I was four years ago when I gave birth, and it's a strange feeling.
Are we reborn every day?
Or is it something that is already inside of you that is coming to the surface?
Earlier this year, when the topic of congenital and acquired came up on Utsushiki,
"I don't feel like I'm building something up every day, but rather I feel like I'm releasing something inside of me."
The words spoken by Kaorin, the great mother of the Ono family, reverberated like ripples.
It feels like it's only recently that I've finally started to put my own experiences into words.
For example, when my son meets someone, he shows me a new side of himself.
The indescribable things that arise from within when watching the movie Slam Dunk are also a part of that person.
If the things we encounter are drawn to what is inside of us, then I believe that encounters in life are incredibly important.
I think that through other people's words and the experiences I've had over the past year, I have become aware of feelings inside myself that I wouldn't have been able to pick up on a year ago.
If you could spend each day constantly finding wonderful things within yourself, where would you be a year from now?
We hope that this spring will be a time of encounters and discoveries for all those involved with Utsushiki!
Mariko Tagami
