# The Place Beyond the Futures I Never Imagined

One year ago today, I celebrated my birthday with my friend Anne on the art island of Naoshima.

Who could have imagined such a future?

That I would travel around Shikoku for 11 days with a French couple?
And that I would drive 1,000 km all by myself...
I, who haven't driven on a highway since I got married.

I did it!
Or rather, I can't even believe it myself.

But looking back, I deeply feel that life is a series of such unimaginable things.

In the future I saw at age 20,
it was doubtful that I would even get married.
Because I couldn't imagine living with someone else.

In the future I saw at age 30,
there was no expectation that I would become a mother of four.
Because I wanted to have two kids quickly and go out to work.

In the future I saw at age 40,
I couldn't imagine a day would come when I would work full-time as a company employee.
Given the conditions of having no full-time work history, no qualifications other than Eiken Grade 2 and a driver's license, and living in the countryside with many children.

In the future I saw at age 50,
there was not a shred of thought that I would become a fortune teller.
Because I hated such shady things.

In the future I saw at age 60,
I never thought I would become a mother who outlives her child.
Because I was prepared for lively days being pushed around by my grandchildren.

On top of that, becoming an English-speaking tour guide!
With English skills that my high school homeroom teacher dismissed, and without any experience studying abroad or being stationed overseas...

For better or worse, life betrays the future we envision and shows us unexpected developments. As things converge toward the final stages, who could have imagined a life like this?

Looking back,
this is not a life I won by constantly working hard toward a goal.
That said, I don't feel like I left it all up to heaven either.
I just have the pride that I have done the best I could with the best options available at each moment.

For example, French.

Why did I start French?
A question I am often asked.

When I was in my third year of high school deciding my path, as a humanities-oriented person, the only options I could think of were the Department of Japanese Literature or the Department of History in the Faculty of Letters. But I also felt that was somehow ordinary and boring. Perhaps my eccentric Tenpo-sei star was activated here.

At that time, I encountered an author named Yumiko Kurahashi.
Reading 'Dark Journey' (Kurai Tabi), I received a shock that felt like being punched in the head by the world unfolding there, and I almost got a concussion.
She was a graduate of the French Literature Department, and French was flying around in her works. I began to be dyed in her colors like blotting paper.

That's it! Since French is the second official language of the UN, there should be work. Unlike English, there shouldn't be much difference even if I'm a late starter. Besides, it's kind of cool,
and suddenly the French Literature Department surfaced.

There was a miscalculation in what a 17-year-old, naive girl thought.

Honestly, I didn't even know the difference between the Faculty of Letters' French Literature Department and the Faculty of Foreign Languages' French Language Department. The French Literature Department is where you study French literature, and of course, there were French conversation classes, but just graduating from the French Literature Department doesn't mean you become fluent.

Also, even though French is the second official language, the difference from English in terms of job demand is obvious. If it were English, there would be hiring for cram school teachers for junior high students, but there were no French cram schools in the countryside.

After marriage and childbirth, I went to the Institut Franco-Japonais, took French translation courses, and tried various things to see if I could get a job related to French. After about 10 years of struggling, I finally decided to switch to English in order to get a job, or to put it grandly, to make a living.

At that point, I completely said goodbye to French.
Perhaps because my capacity is small, I couldn't take in English unless I threw away French.

After getting a job using English, my life centered on English, and I only remembered French like someone I loved a long time ago.

After I retired, when I started volunteering at the tourist information center, I found that quite a lot of French people came to the counter.
When I timidly greeted them in French, they were happy too. While interacting with them, I wanted to do French again. About 30 years had passed since I parted ways with it.

One day, while having lunch with a high school classmate, we talked about our university days.
She said to me, almost reproachfully, 'Why did you throw away French when you were so devoted to it?'
I defended myself, saying, 'No, no, I had to go out and earn money, and my French wasn't good enough to work with.'

Her story continued.
She said that a friend of hers who was in a similar situation to me didn't give up and continued with French, and as a result, she now teaches at a university.

"Is that so? Then I'll try learning French again, too," I said, getting carried away, the words slipping right out of my mouth.

But in reality, I didn't take any action, and the days just went by.
About a year later, I happened to meet Anne by chance.

It started when I spoke to a foreign couple sitting next to me in the reserved seating area for the Matsu-no-shita-shiki ceremony at the Wakamiya On-Matsuri festival in Nara.
At the tourist information center, it's my job to ask "Where are you from?" to collect statistics, so it's almost an occupational habit to strike up a conversation.

Usually, it ends after a brief chat, but when Anne heard that I had been studying French, she grabbed my arm and invited me to go to lunch with them afterward.

Since then, we have kept in touch via WhatsApp even during the pandemic, and last year we finally reunited and traveled together. And, perhaps next year, I will go to France. To see the Mediterranean.

Are coincidences inevitable?
Was I destined to be connected to the French language after all?
It is a turn of events that I can only describe as divine providence.

I truly feel that our present exists beyond a series of futures we never imagined.

#FuturesINeverImagined
#FrenchLanguage
#Birthday