Reflection

To Love Life

Years Ago

Furusato was a small village resting at the foot of Mt. Gozenyama, snug between the lush mountain of birds and trees and the vast waters of the crystal blue Lake Okutama.

"I still remember the beach I looked over that day..."

Its people relied mostly on fish and port work to make a living, and the residents' most contact with the outside world was the rivers that sprouted off of its great lake. The wide streams and gushing rivers allowed them to make the lengthy journey from their little bubble at the foot of a large mountain to the vast cities near the western edge of Tokyo prefecture.

"Words carved in the sand, your back view..."

It also allowed some adventurous city dwellers to venture towards the small village in the middle of nowhere. One young man, hungry for his merchant business to take off, came to the town. He arrived on the small boats with the other adventurers and spent a few days meeting the locals, talking about business ventures, and learning about life so far out inland. He came a few times with grand ventures of the wealth and prosperity to be found in the bustling cities that these villagers had never seen and probably never would see.

"The returning waves wash over my feet and snatch something away..."

On one such occasion, he met a poor girl who worked as a village seamstress to help keep food on the table for her and her little brother. She had a fair complexion and rough hands from work. Always eager to learn, she never let her needs go before her little brother's. She was the pride and joy of the village, not just for her beauty but for her kind heart that held no faults.

"In the evening calm, only sunset passes by..."

This man from the city fell in love, and in pursuing this girl who had lived in poverty her entire life, he swept her off her feet with tales of bustling cities of lights and opportunity. As if drawn by the promise of fairy tales and daydreams, the man's visits became longer, and the girl's nights became shorter as she stayed up to write the man letters whenever he was away.

"I was watching fireworks flash and bloom..."

On one such visit, after a few months of this long yet fruitful back-and-forth, he proposed under the moonlit lake with a ring he fashioned in the city. She accepted readily, and in a few months, her trajectory in life went from working enough to earn scraps for her and her little brother to a bride-to-be who would soon live in the city.

"I'm sure the summer won't end yet..."

She had found the dream. It was like the world was smiling on her, so much so that even now, as she waited by the lake and kicked her feet back and forth in the water, there was a smile on her face as she sang a sweet song to herself. Every interval between her lovestruck singing was filled with a wistful glance at the horizon and the promise of a better life hidden beneath it.

"I solved my ambiguous heart and connected it..."

In just a day, she would be married, and in a week, she would head to the city with the two most important people in her life.

"I wanted this night to last..."

She would start a new life with her husband, who swept her off her feet in the grandest and most endearing ways. Not the letters or the dates or the secret outings of flirty tales of faraway places; no, he won her heart the second he promised one thing. A promise he kept the night he proposed and would keep once they were married tomorrow.

"How many more times can I see the same fireworks as you?"

He promised he would never make her choose between him and her brother, so he won her over. She would bring her little brother with her to start a new life, which was the greatest gift she could ever ask for. She loved her brother, who was too young to remember when their parents got sick and passed, leaving them with their names and a small hut to survive on. She had done her best to make it feel big enough for her younger brother, but she knew he would enjoy the city more than this small, narrow village.