[Creative Award Impressions] An essay like warm soup. Reading "The Minestrone Family Precepts"

"Maiton-san, your short-shorts are like supplements."

Ever since that day when I was told that, I have held onto Gumi-san's words as a precious charm.

They don't have a dramatic effect. But, by consuming (reading) them, they are the kind of writing that makes you feel a bit better or lifts your sunken spirits.

I have no idea if they really have that effect, but hoping that they do, I put the phrase "Serving up reading supplements" on my sign and have continued writing here on Note.

That same Gumi-san has written an essay that is truly like a warm soup.

Minestrone, the taste of her mother, who she says didn't cook much. A minestrone packed with vegetables, like jewels, that has supported Gumi-san's vitality.

Celery that Gumi-san found at a supermarket in the middle of the night when she was worn out from a job she wasn't used to and couldn't find anything she wanted to eat.

I thought that dancing on a night road with celery was just like Mary Poppins. And yet, by the end, I found myself overflowing with tears before I knew it.
Ah, how warm it is.

Ah, how warm it is.

While reading, I remembered my younger days when I couldn't handle things well. I remembered my mother's cooking. And, touched by Gumi-san's love for her family, I couldn't stop the tears.

I might get yelled at by Gumi-san's fans for saying this, but (I hope you'll forgive me since I've told you this myself), Gumi-san's food essays aren't actually that high on my personal Gumi-san ranking. Rather, I want to read about the Matsuoka Shuzo living inside Gumi-san's brain, or Gumi-san who is weak for her favorite idols and somehow always ends up buying a vase, or Gumi-san who keeps sending diaries to her husband in a Kyushu dialect she has no connection to.

However, this minestrone essay was different. I never expected it to soak into my heart so honestly and heal the various damaged parts of my body.

It is because it depicts Gumi-san as she is, rather than a perfect image of a mother, that it is so gentle and warm.

I would want to drink a soup like this every day.