SYNCHRONICITIES - EACH DAY IS A GIFT
2026-05-29
Thanks for the chicken dinner with all the side condiments!
The last few weeks have been days of synchonicities! I attended the Seattle Public Library Session - Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Island Summit 2026. My daughter, Kelly Goto, was one of the speakers and presented the cartoon story SEATTLE SAMURAI.
Joyce Kumasaka, approached me knowing I was Kelly’s mother. I’d been wanting to have lunch with her mother Julianna and chose to sit with her and Mercedes. I shared with her the story of her sister-in-law’s father, Chuck Kato, and how I had met him in 1956 at a Japanese Methodist Youth Fellowship conferences, this one in Portland, Oregon, where I was at Lewis & Clark College. There was always a social on Saturday night in the church gymnasiums where the boys were on one side standing and the girls were on the other side sitting in chairs at these Thanksgiving Pacific Northwest MYF conferences. Chuck, from Seattle, came clear across the gym and asked me to dance. Forty some years later in 1990, we worked together with others to help start the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington (JCCCW) and the OMOIDE writing program.
At the lunch break, Elaine Kitamura stopped me to congratulate me for being Kelly’s mother and let me know that her family were once the owners of the Kokusai Theater in Seattle’s International district that showed Japanese films. I mentioned that I had known her mother, Mitsuye, in Ontario, Oregon, where I grew up. Elaine started to cry saying, “A lot of people knew my dad, but your the first person I’ve met, who knew my mother! Can we have lunch? I want to bring my brothers. Mom was so quiet. I want to know some of her stories!” And she pulled out tissue as I continued to share.
Several similar connections followed!! The next day, I went to another gathering in Bellevue where my blog is housed with the Pacific Software Publishing Inc. company. I’ve known Ken, the owner, and Ritsuko Uchikura for over 40 years. I was teaching English in my living room and Ritsuko was a students. She and Fujiko suggested DENSHO, which I took back to the Japanese Chamber where I was on the board back in 1995, incorporating that program.
The speaker this 2026 June evening in Bellevue was Lewis Rudd, owner of the 17 Ezell’s chicken outlets in the Puget Sound area. Lewis was friends with Juanita Thomas, one of my closest friends for over 50 years until she passed a couple years ago.
I am a firm believer of an “energy network” that connects us if we listen and act on our inclinations. It’s a privilege to be human and learn from the mistakes and difficulties. This is my blog #485. I’ve been consistent with posting weekly for the last 9 years. According to many prestigious University researches - Harvard, Columbia, Stanford - listening, gathering stories and writing are key to “Fulfillment & Happiness” and for finding the purpose of my life!
Thanks Ken for directing me to blogging that keeps me getting stories and connecting!!