[Finished Reading] #134 "Don't Touch the Sewing Machine"

"Don't Touch the Sewing Machine"

Author: Yuka Nakamae

An essay collection of words that made the author happy when said by others.

First of all, I thought the theme itself was wonderful.

Life is not made up only of major events.
A word said by someone. A casual conversation.
Words that you received casually at the time, but for some reason, have remained within you ever since.

I think those small words gradually shape a person's outline.
Collecting words might be close to collecting a life.

It's not just about grand words that would appear in a book of quotes, but words closer to everyday life, received from family, friends, and people met along the way.

The person who said them might have forgotten.
The person who was told might not be remembering them every day either.

Even so, they emerge from the depths of the heart at unexpected moments. Sometimes they support you, and sometimes they sting a little.

While reading this book, I often thought about how well the author remembers episodes from childhood and stories heard from others.

Not just the events themselves, but even the atmosphere of the moment and the fluctuations of feelings remain in detail.

Words, events, people's kindness, and one's own loneliness.
It was also impressive that there are many stories from childhood.

However, it is not just looking back with nostalgia.

There is a sense of re-examining the loneliness, joy, and embarrassment of that time from the perspective of an adult.

Not only happy things, but also lonely and painful things are cherished in the same way.

It is not about forcibly turning unpleasant memories into beautiful stories.
It is not about pretending that painful things never happened.

And it was also interesting that the author draws inspiration from comedians at various points in life.

Comedy is not just about making people laugh; I think it is also about changing the angle of how one lives.

Difficult events.
Emotions that cannot be put into words well.
Things that are a little too heavy to look at head-on.

The words and rhythms of comedy can sometimes provide a little escape.

Instead of writing about serious matters in a purely serious way, there is always a margin left for laughter. That doesn't mean it's being taken lightly.

"I am truly glad that I was born as me."

Thinking that this is an essay by someone who can write those words, honestly, it was dazzling.

Even though the writing is gentle, precisely because it is gentle, it sometimes stings a little in the chest.
When I read the writing of someone who possesses things I do not, I feel both longing and a sense of heaviness at the same time.

I think, how nice.
But, it feels a little distant.

Someone who can re-embrace their own life as their own.
Someone who can put into words that they are glad they were born as themselves.

That strength is something I envy a little.

It's not that Nakamae-san has lived a life that was always bright and without hurt. Rather, this book contains loneliness, hardship, and pain as well.

Even so, she is trying to re-wrap all of that with her own hands as they are now.

The presence of her father is particularly memorable.

If the previous work was a book directed toward her mother, I felt that this one was also a book directed toward her father.

Her father is not overbearing, yet he is properly there.
It is not a type of love that explains everything with words, but a love that remains in daily actions and casual remarks.

When writing about family, I think it's easy to wrap things up too neatly because it's too close. But the way the father is depicted in this book has a warmth that can only come from living life.

Father, mother, and daughter.

The time the three of them spent together rises up as something irreplaceable when looking back on it later.

There is, indeed, time that even a family cannot return to.

Precisely because we can never return to that same form again, I felt that there is meaning in writing it down to preserve it.

Also, the story about the love letter she received is unforgettable. That was truly literature.

Apart from whether the romance worked out or not, I thought about how much intensity there is in the very act of writing words while thinking of someone.

Even if things didn't work out with that person, the person she thought of when writing those words must have been a wonderful person.

This is not a book about overcoming what you cannot do. You don't have to force yourself to like the things you are bad at.

Things you don't touch can stay untouched.

But instead, try touching the words that remain within you once more.

Words that made you happy. Words you cannot forget.
Words you couldn't accept at the time, but whose meaning you understand later.

Perhaps people live their lives supported by such words.

After finishing the book, I wanted to remember the words that remain with me, too.

Things someone said that made me happy.
Casual remarks that, for some reason, I remember forever.
And the words I might have passed on to someone else.

Words are scary. But words truly do help people.

You don't have to touch the sewing machine.
But there are surely things that can be resewn with words.

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