Good evening fellow Toastmasters,
Do you have a particular place never-to-be-forgotten such as the village where you were born, the school where you studied, or the park where you first met your partner.
Whenever summer comes I always remember a beautiful city called Hamilton located 100 kms south from Auckland in New Zealand.
Let me share my personal story related to the city with you tonight.
While I worked for the diplomatic organizations in North Korea, South Korea and
Taiwan from 1998 to 2005, my wife lived in this city to help our only daughter study abroad.
7 years later at the age of 55 I was luckily transferred to Auckland on an assignment for the Consulate General of Japan and we were able to live together again in the same country.
One summer day in February 2006, I got a phone call from my wife staying at her house in Hamilton.
“Good morning Takki, how are you today.”
“Hi Momoe, what ’s the matter with you calling me early in the morning?”
“Nothing but just want to hear your voice, Honey.”
“Thanks, Darling. How is our daughter going? ”
“She is busy for getting through her University exams, ”
“Good. So, what are you going to do this morning?”
“Well, I will jog along the riverside before preparing lunch for my daughter.”
“Ok take care, Darling. See you this weekend!”
“You too. Honey. Bye!”
Who knew this was the final conversation between us.
A couple of hours later, I got another phone call from the Auckland Police saying that my wife was in hospital with critical head injuries after an accident in Hamilton this morning where she collided with a cyclist.
I could not believe it when I heard it for the first time but immediately rushed to the
hospital. My wife was lying fast asleep in bed with a respirator on her mouth.
I gripped her hands and encouraged her but she gave me back no reactions.
According to the regulations of New Zealand, the doctors waited 8 days for her
recovery and finally decided to take the respirator off her mouth.
It was the moment of my greatest sorrow to lose my dearest partner.
It has passed 12 years since the accident occurred, I still cannot stop thanking god for letting my wife and I communicate over the phone just before she passed away.
Now I visit Hamilton once a year to have more conversations with my late wife at her grave in the park cemetery where she doesn’t sleep but is a thousand winds that blow.
♫ あの 大きな空を 吹き渡って います♫ Toastmaster!
Do you have a particular place never-to-be-forgotten such as the village where you were born, the school where you studied, or the park where you first met your partner.
Whenever summer comes I always remember a beautiful city called Hamilton located 100 kms south from Auckland in New Zealand.
Let me share my personal story related to the city with you tonight.
While I worked for the diplomatic organizations in North Korea, South Korea and
Taiwan from 1998 to 2005, my wife lived in this city to help our only daughter study abroad.
7 years later at the age of 55 I was luckily transferred to Auckland on an assignment for the Consulate General of Japan and we were able to live together again in the same country.
One summer day in February 2006, I got a phone call from my wife staying at her house in Hamilton.
“Good morning Takki, how are you today.”
“Hi Momoe, what ’s the matter with you calling me early in the morning?”
“Nothing but just want to hear your voice, Honey.”
“Thanks, Darling. How is our daughter going? ”
“She is busy for getting through her University exams, ”
“Good. So, what are you going to do this morning?”
“Well, I will jog along the riverside before preparing lunch for my daughter.”
“Ok take care, Darling. See you this weekend!”
“You too. Honey. Bye!”
Who knew this was the final conversation between us.
A couple of hours later, I got another phone call from the Auckland Police saying that my wife was in hospital with critical head injuries after an accident in Hamilton this morning where she collided with a cyclist.
I could not believe it when I heard it for the first time but immediately rushed to the
hospital. My wife was lying fast asleep in bed with a respirator on her mouth.
I gripped her hands and encouraged her but she gave me back no reactions.
According to the regulations of New Zealand, the doctors waited 8 days for her
recovery and finally decided to take the respirator off her mouth.
It was the moment of my greatest sorrow to lose my dearest partner.
It has passed 12 years since the accident occurred, I still cannot stop thanking god for letting my wife and I communicate over the phone just before she passed away.
Now I visit Hamilton once a year to have more conversations with my late wife at her grave in the park cemetery where she doesn’t sleep but is a thousand winds that blow.
♫ あの 大きな空を 吹き渡って います♫ Toastmaster!
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