I hope to continue to write on this blog periodically, but it likely will not be as often or as regular as before. Thank you to all who have stopped by.
To read my final Patch column, please click here.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
A Columnist Says Goodbye
I hope to continue to write on this blog periodically, but it likely will not be as often or as regular as before. Thank you to all who have stopped by.
To read my final Patch column, please click here.
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I'm so sorry. Thinking of you!
ReplyDeleteI am very very sorry to hear that
ReplyDeleteI am sending you loads of good wishes for you and your wife to patch things up
(((((yuji and Kai and Kai's mum))))))
I just read your column, and I'm also sorry to hear that. Just wanted to wish you lots of luck in finding new employment. I really hope it all works out for you. Remember, PMA!! Sure you're employable and anyone would be lucky to have you :-)
ReplyDeleteJust read your column and really sorry to hear that too. Wishing you lots of luck in finding employment - sure you're employable, PMA remember?! ;) Anyone would be lucky to have you. Hope it all works out well in the end.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for the kind thoughts. Your support over the past months has meant a lot to me.
ReplyDeleteIm sorry Yuji, I read your column in Patch and know you enjoyed, hope herad from you time on time:)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gloria. Hopefully I will still be able to write from time to time.
DeleteYuji, you are obviously highly intelligent, creative, and driven. You will eventually succeed...that is a given. It is the down period that forces adaptation and new direction. Your personality won't allow you to give up, that I know. This could be the time where you could pursue avenues of forgotten passions that could prove to be lucrative. A person of your attributes can rapidly change directions and master new skills. You also have the attributes to create your own business.
ReplyDeleteYour wife saw the goodness and solidity of your heart and mind. To fall while attempting to fly is almost inevitable. What separates those who fail (stay grounded) and those who once again fly (and eventually reach even greater heights) is the underlying passion to once again soar with the eagles.
I won't attempt to marginalize the fear you and your wife must feel. I am sure it is nerve wracking. However, I wouldn't classify your attempt to make a better life for your family as one of betrayal. I am sure your wife realizes this also.
Some years back, I had gone through a period where my future was uncertain. I was wrestling with a large man at work (a frequent occurrence)...he died. For a month and a half (until the autopsy report cleared me of wrong doing) I was second guessing myself. I didn't know if I had accidentally done something wrong. I was in fear of not only losing my job and retirement, I was also facing the prospect of civil litigation and possible criminal charges (besides the emotional impact of possibly having accidentally killed a man).
When I had told my wife...she was, of course, fearful. We sat down and planned. I needed to earn good money and have a future. I had decided on Nursing. It had good earning potential, a good retirement, job security, it was in high demand throughout the nation and I could put myself through a Nursing school in a couple of years (I already had a BS degree). I knew we would lose the house and have our lives disrupted for a few years. I had planned to send my wife and son back to Japan to live with her parents while I lived under Spartan conditions and kept a rigorous study schedule. Once we had a plan of action (I had researched the nursing schools)...our fears greatly eased.
While this is a time of fear and uncertainty...it is also a time of working together...of marshaling your resources as a team toward problem resolution. Instead of being a wedge...it can be a binding of the family unit. To have weathered a great storm together...is to have faced a common enemy and to have suffered together. That is where trust is made. A misstep in life is not trust lost...it is potential for true trust gained.
Circle your wagons...consider all viable options...prioritize...mobilize...but, do it together.
You will find you will become a much stronger team...and you will be able to look back at this time as one of your great conquests. This will add even greater strength to your marriage and a greater zeal in life.
One last note...always remember...a man of your intelligence and drive shall eventually
succeed...just keep preening your flight feathers and keep your eyes set to the clouds.
Shiroi,
DeleteThank you very much for taking the time to write such a detailed and heartfelt comment. I greatly admire how you and your wife handled your own time of distress. It is a model of how I would like to approach my own situation.
I will try to take your encouragement to heart. I do not know if I am worthy of such kind thoughts, but know that I must keep up my confidence to succeed. I will try to keep 'preening my flight feathers and keep my eyes set to the clouds.' Well said!
Yuji,
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear of the recent events with your family. Thank you for sharing your experiences raising Kai. Your candor and honesty in your struggles often gave me valuable perspective on our own situation with our son.
Best wishes to you three and I hope that you will check in when you can.
-myra
Thank you, Myra. I really appreciate your comments.
DeleteI am planning to post on this blog from time to time so I'm not going to be completely away from all of you. But keeping a weekly commitment to my Patch columns was not going to be possible with my other priorities.