My 58th Birthday: Learning About Folly and Love

"You shouldn't keep repeating the same mistakes."
That's what I preached so loftily during the school trip.


I'd like to say those exact words to myself (lol).

And,
I've always thought that I, living in the present, possess wisdom packed with past experiences, and from the perspective of the future, I am at my freshest and most full of potential in life!

I always thought that, but I'm retracting my statement (lol).

The reason is, well, I messed up.
It's been seven or eight years since the last time (bitter laugh).

Today is my 58th birthday.
The day after working on the school trip, I have no shift and am off.

But, I just couldn't get up.

I felt sick.

Huh? Is my head hurting? you ask.
No need to worry about that!

It's just a hangover (lol).

I'm embarrassed to keep relying on the kindness of everyone in the note community who always says such kind things to me.

Since it's my birthday and I have the whole day off, there were various things I wanted to do.

But, everything is canceled (lol).

When I rustle and get up, my dogs react wildly, thinking,
"Are we going for a walk?"
But I just get up to use the bathroom and head back to bed.

It was already past 3 PM when I was finally able to be active.

When I was young, I had many failures involving alcohol, but I usually don't drink at all now, and there have been no drinking parties due to COVID.

I haven't experienced that painful hangover in years.

This spring, there was a drinking party for the grade level for the first time in a while, but I drank happily and had no "hangover."

After drinking sake, I made sure to drink plenty of water and ordered soft drinks, and I even praised myself, saying,
"I've grown up!"

"You know, I get carried away and drink too much, and then I regret it the next day."
Even hearing the principal say that,

I thought, 'I've graduated from that way of drinking.'

Or so I had secretly thought.

Well, I really did it this time.
I got completely carried away and drank too much (laughs).

The sense of liberation that the school trip was over.
The sense of accomplishment that it had been a wonderful trip.
The children were smiling, and the accompanying teachers were smiling too.

This school trip might possibly be the last one of my teaching career.
Thinking that makes me feel deeply moved.

After all, the teaching staff are wonderful colleagues I can truly relax with.

That's why I ended up drinking like a student.

Regret comes too late, as they say.

But you know, it really makes you realize how important your body is.
If I don't think about how I treat it, it won't last long.

As my body ages year by year, the damage from alcohol is also significant.

Since I don't usually drink, I felt the magnitude of the damage keenly.

Being able to receive the thought of 'I should write an article about my embarrassing experience' and then taking action is only possible because I have a healthy body.

That was the 58th birthday where I felt such an obvious truth deep in my heart.

I thought about ending the article here, but I've added a few more things that came to mind.

Is there love?

You might be wondering what I'm talking about all of a sudden, but I remembered feeling that during the school trip.

No, that's not it.
Is there love?
It's not that,
There is love!

That is what I felt from this travel group.

Treating them with love led to results.
Caring for one another, 160 people acted as one.

There were failures, but when we talked, we accepted them with our hearts and were able to improve.

Well, to put it in dialect, they are 'menkoi' (adorable) children.

The fact that we teachers feel this way means the children trust us as well.

I am convinced of this from experience.

A child who usually never speaks to me (because they are often scolded by me for wearing makeup) came up to me and said,

“Teacher, look, look! My fortune says super great blessing!”
“Teacher, look, look! It’s amazing! This seafood!!”

It was a school trip so fun that they were beaming with smiles while talking to me.

Well, I have basically enjoyed every school trip I've been on, no matter how difficult the children were, but this might be the first time I've experienced a school trip where the relationship between the teachers and the children was this good.

With such deep emotions, I ended up drinking a little too much (laughs).
Thank you for sticking with my boring excuses until the very end.