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A Tremendous Thing

Osamu lost a tooth after eating an apple. Looks like I gotta text the tooth fairy. And hopefully we have a 100 yen coin around here somewhere. At some point the tooth fairy and all those mythical creatures need to start using PayPay or Venmo or whatever.


And tonight we finished Charlotte's Web. Well actually just Kenzo and me. Osamu couldn't make the journey this time. He's been sick and it turns out he's just a tad bit not ready for it. He's not sore about it, just a little annoyed because he prefers the picture books. Nothing wrong with that.


We finished the last two chapters at the dining table, and every few pages I had to put it down and take a beat to right myself. Kenzo was fine, but he was worried about me. I told him I was okay and he asked why I was crying. I said because life is beautiful and it just gets me emotional sometimes like when we read special stories like this.

Those last 20 pages...

“Why did you do all this for me?” he asked. “I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.”
“You have been my friend,” replied Charlotte. “That in itself is a tremendous thing.”

“Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch.”

“After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die.”

Kenzo and I sat up a little later than usual talking about the story. Charlotte spends her life helping Wilbur, and in the end, that’s what makes her life so special. We talked about how making a difference for someone else is one of the most rewarding things we can do as humans. 

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