This Day
"Why was I born on a day like this?"
My senior at university would always grumble like that.
"It's summer vacation so my friends can't celebrate with me, and even if they did, it's the anniversary of the end of the war."
My nephew, whose birthday is on Christmas, says he feels like he lost to Christmas.
My friend who was born on New Year's Day also always says she feels cheated because her New Year's gift and birthday present are combined.
My birthday is a very ordinary, normal day.
It is neither a particularly celebratory day nor a sad one.
From the time I started elementary school, my mother would make me sit in front of the TV on August 6th and 9th and tell me to offer a silent prayer when the bell rang.
On August 15th, I was made to offer a one-minute silent prayer starting at noon.
"Why today?"
When I asked that,
"Because it's the day Japan lost the war. Many people died. Yumi-chan, your uncle also died in Burma."
That's what my aunt told me.
At that time, I didn't know where Burma was.
I had seen a photo of my uncle, who was twelve years younger than my aunt.
He was a soldier riding a white horse.
My aunt would always cry whenever she talked about her younger brother who died in the war.
This year, August 15th was my mother-in-law's first Obon, and we combined it with the birthday celebrations for my daughter and brother-in-law.
My husband's relatives always gathered at his mother's house to celebrate birthdays.
Since the relatives were gathering for the first Obon anyway, we decided to combine it with the birthday celebrations for my daughter and brother-in-law that we had postponed.
My mother-in-law looked forward to celebrating her grandchildren's and sons' birthdays every year more than anything else.
Now, I have sent off the relatives who gathered, and I am writing this note.
I was busy with preparations from the morning, and by the time I offered a silent prayer in my heart,
it was past noon.
I wonder if my aunt is angry.
For our family, this day was my mother-in-law's first Obon, and a day we celebrated family birthdays.
And it is the day the war ended.
I want to remember everything—the happy things, the fun things, the sad things, and the painful things—without forgetting any of them.
#August15
#AnniversaryOfTheEndOfWar
#EndOfWarDay