My Wife Who Says, 'Hey, Die Before Me'

Usually, I think the standard thing to do is to care about your partner's life and say, 'Don't die before me,' but my wife says to me, 'Hey, die before me'...

Tonight, just like every other night, I'm writing this very text on my smartphone while sitting on the sofa after putting the kids to bed.

My wife is doing the dishes in the kitchen.

This is where our time as a couple begins.

Following our usual routine, after she finishes the dishes, she'll take a bath, and I'll spend my time on the sofa watching YouTube or catching up on work I need to get done, like writing this note.

'What are you writing about this time?'

Even while doing the dishes, my wife seems to know that I'll be writing a note tonight.

'Hmm. I haven't decided yet~'

Even as I answer that, I'm writing this.

If I had said 'I'm writing about this' at that moment, she would have warned me, 'Don't write anything weird!', so I played it vague.

I've decided that from now on, I'm going to write about this and that regarding my wife.

My wife. Misa Fujiwara, 40 years old.

She has given birth to two daughters and works hard every day at housework and childcare.

As those who watch my wife on YouTube probably know, my wife's cooking is delicious.

My favorites are her fried chicken, curry, hashed beef, and simmered fish; the list is endless, and in these 11 years, there hasn't been a single dish she's served that I could rate as anything less than great.

Basically, everything she makes is delicious.

That's why, regarding the children's growth, she provides meals I can trust without any nutritional imbalance, so I have complete faith in her.

I think this is a point of pride for my wife.

She also pays close attention to the smallest details of housework every day.

Every year at the end of the year, our house doesn't do a 'big cleaning'.

That's because my wife is constantly aware of the entire room and cleans it daily.

She uses the vacuum cleaner and the Quickle Wiper every morning; if I were to calculate the total distance covered over these 12 years, I wonder if she's circled the Earth a few times?
And while she's always vacuuming or using the Quickle Wiper, she grumbles, 'Why is it that even though I clean every single day, there's still so much dust and hair on the floor? I can't take it! Good grief!' as she diligently works away.
But if the kids make a mess at that moment, the atmosphere often gets a bit tense. So, at those times, I've decided to imagine something.
I think of it on a global scale.
She's cleaning every day, and the distance she's covered is incredible; is she crossing the Eurasian continent now? No, she's crossing the African continent, slipping past minority tribes while grumbling, 'Good grief!', and moving forward with her Quickle Wiper!
My goodness! Seeing her like that, perhaps mistaking it for some kind of festival, a tribe is following behind her in a line, using their spears as Quickle Wipers!
If I imagine it like that, even the tense atmosphere looks comical. When our eldest daughter gets a little older, I plan to secretly teach her this visualization technique. Lol

And my wife has an unpretentious personality.

I wondered what would be the easiest way to convey this.

Speaking her mind? The way she tells people asking for relationship advice, 'Just dump that guy! Next! Next!'? Hmm, I thought about it and found a good one.

The part that best conveys my wife's unpretentiousness.

[Her sneezes are loud!] This is it!

Among all the women I've met in the past, hers are definitely the loudest sneezes!!

I'm not saying this because I dislike it; rather, it's a part of her I like.

Sometimes there are women who sneeze with a small 'Cute!' sound.

I don't trust those sneezes.

That's because they definitely don't feel relieved.

'Does that really get rid of the tickle?'

'Yeah, it does~'

I think that's a total lie.

In that respect, my wife's sneezes are clearly relieving without even asking! They have a power that wouldn't lose to any man around!

I think she could even move Taro Yabe with the wind pressure. Lol

Here, let me tell you a little more about the story of our eldest daughter's first love, which I wrote about on Note the other day.

It happened when I was in the bath with our eldest daughter.

'Daddy, you know, A-kun says he likes me second best.'

Our eldest daughter said that happily.

The 'second best' part bothered me a little, but since she was talking with such a happy expression, I replied in a way that wouldn't dampen her mood.

'Wow! So A-kun likes you too! That's great!'

'Yeah, but Mommy said that's no good.'

'What? What do you mean?'

'She said, 'Why are you happy about being second? Be number one! Number one!''

I think that's a very 'my wife' kind of opinion.

'She told me that first-grade boys like whoever they talk to the most, so I should talk to him a lot.'

The advice is also very 'my wife', to say the least.

'What are you going to do?'

'I want to talk to him a lot, but if I suddenly start talking to him a lot, he'll think I'm a weirdo, so I won't.'

Our eldest daughter was so calm that I burst out laughing in the bath.

I think the women in our house have a good balance.

And I want to write this down too.

My wife is unlucky!

Yes, she often encounters minor misfortunes.

The Uber I ordered is missing items, the tag is off the clothes she bought, the list goes on.

How many times have I seen us arrive at a shop we absolutely wanted to go to, only to find it's a regular holiday?

Even on days when we aren't together, I get a 'Ding-dong' LINE message, and when I open it, it says, 'It was a regular holiday...'. How many times have I replied to that message?

Let's call her Mrs. Regular Holiday.

'Wouldn't you stop being Mrs. Regular Holiday if you checked before going?'

You thought that, didn't you?

No, that's not it.

It's not a regular holiday! It's fine! I checked before I left, but that day is a [Temporary Closure]!

That's my wife!

Mrs. Temporary Closure!

I used to laugh, but it happens so often that lately it's starting to feel like a horror movie, and I can't laugh.

...Maybe I teased her a bit too much?

*Well, it is a fact, though.

Let me also write about the best parts of my wife.

I think my wife is deeply affectionate.

I feel that her wounds regarding our beloved dog Jovi, who passed away two years ago, have not yet healed.

The other day, our eldest daughter said she wanted to go to a cafe with squirrels. She probably saw it on YouTube. When I searched for it because she begged me to 'check on your phone', it really existed.
'I want to go!' our eldest daughter said excitedly. I also thought it sounded interesting, so I invited my wife, but she said she'd pass. A few months later, our eldest daughter said she wanted to go to a shop with rabbits, but no matter how I adjusted my schedule, it didn't work out.
Our eldest daughter was stubborn and wouldn't give up on wanting to go.
Perhaps feeling bad about turning down the squirrel cafe, my wife and eldest daughter went out together. When our eldest daughter came back, she was high-spirited, saying it was cute, but my wife wasn't really...

And then, another day, our eldest daughter said, 'I want to go to a dog cafe!'

It's been two years since then, so I felt it might be okay now and invited my wife, but she said, 'If I see a cute puppy, I'll definitely remember Jovi and feel sad, so I don't want to.'

I see, so that's why she didn't seem interested in the squirrels or the rabbits...

I was surprised that her wound was still so deep and unhealed. At the same time, I felt grateful that she had loved Jovi so much.

I learned the depth of my wife's affection.

When we watch a drama or movie and there's a scene where one of an elderly couple is left behind, my wife always says to me:

'Hey, die before me.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

When I reply like that, my wife continues:

'It'll be a problem if you don't die before me!! How am I supposed to live alone? There's a high chance both our daughters will have left home for marriage or something, right? You'll be alone? Can you clean and do laundry? You can't, right? You can make some basic food, but you're lazy, so you won't do it, right? So you won't eat anything decent, right!? And then you'll be unhealthy every single day!? That's why I'm telling you to die first because I'd feel sorry for you! Wahahahaha!'

It makes me think about what she means.

As I wrote at the beginning, wishing for your partner to live even one day longer might be love, but that's not the only form of love...

Every day I can eat delicious food in a clean room with my wife.

Losing those days and living alone in loneliness while wishing to return to those times.

That must be a living hell...

'Hey, don't die before me.'