I can’t believe it, but summer is on our doorstep (I know this because my daughter and my daughter-in-law, who are both teachers,\u00c2\u00a0just went\u00c2\u00a0on summer\u00c2\u00a0break).\u00c2\u00a0 Summer is one of my favorite seasons, longer days, more sun, and more oama and papio (if I ever have\u00c2\u00a0time to go fishing ;).\u00c2\u00a0 Where does the time go?\u00c2\u00a0 Is it just me, or does it seem as if time goes faster and faster, the older one gets – or do we just appreciate it more?\u00c2\u00a0 As an AJA, I know I’m approaching one of the honored (or dreaded) milestones in a “mature” Japanese man’s life, celebrating one’s 60th year\u00c2\u00a0– the Kanreki.\u00c2\u00a0 It was kind of a neat thing, nearly twenty years ago, celebrating my Yakudoshi (“My, you look so young for 41 years!”) – I remember brushing off such remarks and compliments, still feeling (and kind of looking) like I was in my twenties, haha.\u00c2\u00a0 But the Kanreki is different; the Kanreki feels so….old.\u00c2\u00a0 I remember my Dad’s and my father-in-law’s Kanreki’s – I was in charge of the program and “entertainment” for both parties.\u00c2\u00a0 At my father-in-law’s party, his\u00c2\u00a0eldest brother (passed away a couple of years ago at 95) gave the toast.\u00c2\u00a0 He described the Kanreki as entering one’s “Second Childhood”.\u00c2\u00a0 He said it was gradually letting go of so many central activities that\u00c2\u00a0we associate with adulthood; in particular – retiring from one’s livelihood and releasing one’s grown children to create their own families and destinies.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0For many post-Kanreki men, their daily focus turns to rather idyllic past times: golf, gardening, reading, home repair, watching more tv, joining the “Y”, helping watch grandchildren, meeting old friends for coffee at McDonald’s, traveling, and so on.\u00c2\u00a0 For most, it allows more time spent with one’s spouse.\u00c2\u00a0 For some, it means being able to give back and help\u00c2\u00a0frail, elderly parents in need.\u00c2\u00a0 For a few, it’s a feeling of loss…having gotten accustomed to being relied upon for job skills that took a lifetime to acquire, and suddenly not seeing one’s co-workers on a daily basis.\u00c2\u00a0 For others, the “empty nester” syndrome can really set it, unless there are grandchildren ringing your doorbell \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n
At the time, I thought my Dad and father-in-law were old men (bachi on me), ready to live their “golden” (as in olden) years out in quiet retirement.\u00c2\u00a0 Obviously, I was wrong -\u00c2\u00a0both men\u00c2\u00a0continued to be as active as when they were still working at their jobs.\u00c2\u00a0 And I’m sure that both\u00c2\u00a0men felt as young as I feel today – perhaps most men in their 80’s still feel as young as I feel today.\u00c2\u00a0 Once, my dad told me that inside, he felt the same as he did when he was in his twenties, it’s just that he was looking out at the world through eyes and inside a body that was 80…and it was ironic that everyone looking at him could only see a frail 80 year old man.\u00c2\u00a0 I was incredulous at this revelation – dad felt like a young man trapped in an old man’s body!\u00c2\u00a0 Dad wasn’t complaining – he was just making an observation – and perhaps encouraging me to continue teaching karate (I was visiting him while getting ready to teach class that day).<\/p>\n
All I know is that during the first twenty-five years of life and the last twenty-five years (say, 60-85), the young and the mature share a great similarity…the time passes by so fast and huge, huge changes happen physically and mentally.\u00c2\u00a0 During the first twenty-five, a child goes from being born, to crawling, then walking, then running, and becoming a full-grown adult.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0They learn to talk, read, write, complete their academics,\u00c2\u00a0commence their careers, move out to their own place, get married, and start families.\u00c2\u00a0 During that same time, their elders retire, see their\u00c2\u00a0grown children\u00c2\u00a0go on their own, lose muscle, lose flexibility, lose skin elasticity, lose hair, lose a couple of inches in height,\u00c2\u00a0lose\u00c2\u00a0some hearing\/eyesight\/speed\/memory, AND….GAIN WISDOM.\u00c2\u00a0 Haha, joke – I hope I gain\u00c2\u00a0SOMETHING during this time.\u00c2\u00a0 Sounds kind of like a lose-lose for the mature and a win-win for the young…but not really.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0God, however,\u00c2\u00a0designed a special\u00c2\u00a0middle-ground and timeframe – the middle 40 years of life!\u00c2\u00a0 Haha, thought I forgot about that period from one’s twenties to one’s sixties, eh?\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, we spent the first twenty-something years growing up, but we’ve gotten to spend the last 37 years “growing up” with our children.\u00c2\u00a0 That time was the busiest and most financially challenging – yet, it was so much fun and we’ll always have the memories of those shared experiences together with our kids.\u00c2\u00a0 In a few short years, our elder child will be celebrating his own Yakudoshi, and we’ll compliment him on how “young” he looks.<\/p>\n
In God’s design, we get to continue to share life experiences with our loved ones.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0We get to actually\u00c2\u00a0share\u00c2\u00a0our “Fall” years with the “Spring” years of\u00c2\u00a0our grandchildren; who, in turn, are sharing that same time with\u00c2\u00a0our children’s “Summer” years – simultaneously.\u00c2\u00a0 I do believe that’s why grandparents and grandchildren often share such a special relationship (we get to spoil and not discipline – Honest! It’s written in the grandparent’s handbook).\u00c2\u00a0 Entering this period of time is definitely not a downer.\u00c2\u00a0 God\u00c2\u00a0gave us the\u00c2\u00a0ability to take advantage of this time; to invest in our\u00c2\u00a0spirit, our health, our relationships, our finances, etc.\u00c2\u00a0 Along with other things,\u00c2\u00a0karate practice has\u00c2\u00a0certainly been, and continues to be,\u00c2\u00a0a major part of that investment for me.\u00c2\u00a0 With the proper outlook and activities, we can continue our “Summer” years indefinitely with our friends and family and give the phrase, “The Endless Summer” a new and real meaning (the younger folks don’t even know that’s the title of a classic 1960’s surfing document, haha).\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Have a great summer!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I can’t believe it, but summer is on our doorstep (I know this because my daughter and my daughter-in-law, who are both teachers,\u00c2\u00a0just went\u00c2\u00a0on summer\u00c2\u00a0break).\u00c2\u00a0 Summer is one of my favorite seasons, longer days, more sun, and more oama and papio (if I ever have\u00c2\u00a0time to go fishing ;).\u00c2\u00a0 Where does the time go?\u00c2\u00a0 Is it just me, or does it seem as if time goes faster and faster, the older one gets – or do we just appreciate it more?\u00c2\u00a0 As an AJA, I know I’m approaching one of the honored (or dreaded) milestones in a “mature” Japanese man’s life, celebrating one’s 60th year\u00c2\u00a0– the Kanreki.\u00c2\u00a0 It was kind of a neat thing, nearly twenty years ago, celebrating my Yakudoshi (“My, you look so young for 41 years!”) – I remember brushing off such remarks and compliments, still feeling (and kind of looking) like I was in my twenties, haha.\u00c2\u00a0 But the Kanreki is different; the Kanreki feels so….old.\u00c2\u00a0 I remember my Dad’s and my father-in-law’s Kanreki’s – I was in charge of the program and “entertainment” for both parties.\u00c2\u00a0 At my father-in-law’s party, his\u00c2\u00a0eldest brother (passed away a couple of years ago at 95) gave the toast.\u00c2\u00a0 He [...]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions\/218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiskarate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}