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Thanks, Erma

Excerpts: If I Had My Life to Live Over

by Erma Bombeck

“I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the ‘good’ living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

If I had my life to live over, I would have taken the time to listen to my grand[mother] ramble about [her] youth.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television — and more while watching life.
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for the day.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Stop sweating the small stuff. Don’t worry about who doesn’t like you, who has more, or who’s doing what. Instead, let’s cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.”

Ni Hiki No Usagi

May 23, 2009
That’s two rabbits in Japanese.  Or pretty close, anyway. I learned it from an elderly Japanese Architect who worked with me in Honolulu.

Long story … but I found out in the course of our friendship that the Japanese do not pluralize by adding an ‘s’.  They are very precise.  Specific in the numbers.  Not just rabbits, but two rabbits or four rabbits.  And of course, two rabbits will make four rabbits (and more).

I have been watching two rabbits at play in the early evenings, hopping around in the tall grass of an all-but-abandoned house near me.  Each time I see them, I remember with great fondness the kindly Japanese man who touched my life in Hawaii.

June 2, 2020
Fast forward about 10 years:
A young couple has bought the abandoned house next door! They are breathing new life into it, for which Fiona and I are so grateful. And who knew — but the young wife is of Japanese descent! They are building a small structure beside their koi pond (across the fence from my plebeian gold fish pond — and it’s for her bunnies! Three bunnies!

So, today I learned san biki no usagi. Three rabbits.
Joy to the world!

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