2025/05/21 Building Up to Today: The Effort Right Beside a Smile

2025/05/21

The sky outside my window is cloudy again this morning.
When I stepped outside, it was a little chilly, and it felt just right on my arms covered by a thin cardigan. The slightly cold breeze was actually pleasant, and it flipped a switch in me, making me feel, "Today is starting, too."

For lunch, I made a nori bento with salmon.
Lotus root kinpira, spinach ohitashi, and rolled omelet. I packed a little bit of cod roe pasta from the freezer and added some tomatoes.

The sunrise time and the temperature are both rising little by little.
I can feel the season taking another step forward.

Invisible Kindness

"Mom! Look at this! My friend made it for me!"

As soon as she got home from school, she showed me something she was holding carefully in both hands. When she opened her small palms, a cute little fox folded from yellow origami paper was sitting there.

Seeing my daughter talk with her eyes crinkled in a smile, I could feel the warmth of having received something precious.

Apparently, when my eldest daughter gave her some origami paper, she folded this fox for her. It wasn't just an "exchange of goods," but an interaction like"receiving and returning feelings."

I think there is acycle of pure goodwillthere that adults often overlook. Just imagining that scene made my heart feel gentle.

In places we cannot see, children exchange a lot of kindness every day. I find this time, when she wants to"talk about it proudly,"to be precious.

Watching her cherish the little fox, I thought that connections between people might actually start from such small things.

As adults, we tend to seek only efficiency and results, but what is truly important might be found in closer, smaller places.

Quiet Emotion in Cheer Dance

Wednesday is cheer dance lesson day.

"I found out my position today! It's in the middle!" my second daughter said. To my surprise, it's the center of the front row. She didn't seem to realize what that meant yet, and she was acting somewhat airy, oblivious to the surprise of me and her older sister.

The special place called the center.

Standing in a prominent spot isn't the goal.
Even so, until just recently, "near where her big sister is dancing" was her usual spot.

Knowing she isn't great under pressure, I'm the one who is nervous.

But I think the fact that she wasentrusted with that spotis the "proof of what she has built up" for her right now. I remind myself that I am the one who needs to watch over her with confidence.

Being able to be by her side to see the moment when the effort she made in places I couldn't see suddenly bears fruit might be the greatest joy for a parent.

Dancing in the center is a great joy, but at the same time, it also means the "hardship" of responsibility and effort for future practice.

Supporting the efforts of my daughter, who will turn six in a few days, is up to me as a parent. We truly must go through both the bitter and the sweet together.

But that "bitter" will become the seed for the next "sweet."
I believe that.

Hardship is the seed of joy, and joy is the seed of hardship

Watching them, children really do
work hard behind the scenes of "fun things," and they are also trying to overcome "things they aren't good at" little by little.
Come to think of it, I might be the same.

Work, housework, daily routines.

Even if I can't do everything carefully, I am steadily building up something every day that I can say, "I did it today, too."
That accumulation will eventually lead to

"joy."Believing that, I decided to end my day today.
Is there something you are "building up"?

Even if it doesn't produce results immediately, it might be quietly and steadily supporting your back.

＼ If you'd like, please take a look at these too ／

▶︎ Happiness that is surprisingly close
　A small salvation on a busy Tuesday.

▶︎ "Making do" is not a compromise

▶︎ An ordinary working mom who enjoys the "morning" by waking up at 4 AM

Thank you so much for reading until the end.

None of these are special things, but they all certainly move someone's heart and support someone's growth.

At the end of the day, a warm sense of satisfaction wraps around my heart.

Value "how I want to be" more than "how I should be."

May you have more time to let your heart relax. See you again!