346. 3 Minutes and 11 Seconds of Full Effort - The Daily Life of a Husband Who Retired Early and His Remarried Wife

In our house, it always starts suddenly,
like a surprise inspection.

That melody, which has been familiar to my ears since I was a child.

Chan-chan-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha
Chan-chan-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha

The moment the intro of the recording echoes through the living room,
I grin,
and like Pavlov's dog,
I stand up straight on the spot.

Securing a slightly wider space,
I glance at my husband,
who is already standing by in a full-effort stance,
and prepare my posture in the few seconds before the start.

“Radio Calisthenics No. 1, ready!”

With that call,
the “ritual” of our married life begins solemnly.


At first,
it was a measure against lack of exercise after my husband retired early.

“Let's just do something every day.”

It was supposed to be a lighthearted start like that.

Yet, how did it end up like this?

Before I knew it, in our house,
the moment that intro plays,
our bodies move without question,
a perfect conditioned reflex had been formed.


My husband, in particular, is strangely serious.

The angle at which he extends his arms,
the way he bends his knees,
for some reason, he is a bit earnest every time.

Sometimes he steals a glance at me,

and gives me a smug look,

as if to say, “That one was pretty sharp, wasn't it?”

No, I have never seen it in my life.

Someone who seeks “sharpness” in radio calisthenics.


But,
I am actually saved by such trivial times.
It's not that there is a special event.

It's not an Instagrammable daily life

that I can brag about to anyone.
Even so,

we jump to the same music,
stretch our limbs with the same movements,
and in the end, the two of us,

laugh together while holding our lower backs,

saying, “Ouch, ouch...”

Such time,

is somehow intensely peaceful,
and somehow unreasonably precious.
When I was young,


I thought happiness was more dramatic,
and something special.
But,

now that I have remarried after experiencing both the bitter and the sweet, I understand.
Happiness,

is actually rolling around in places like this.
Just with the intro of radio calisthenics,

an old man and an old woman together
having a conditioned reflex,
this scene in the living room,
is, in life,

a pretty high-class category of happiness.
Today again,

that sound echoes through our house.
Chan-chan-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha.

Well then.

I wonder how my husband's “sharpness” will be today.

I am participating in
Ken Honda's Happy Writing Marathon #52,
“What is an event that recently made you laugh unintentionally?”