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VY: Do you remember any kind of activities that you all did together?

MM: No. Oh, well, as kids, you mean?

VY: Yeah.

MM: Because kids, yeah, in fact, I don't know why I didn't mention this. There were some really wonderful things that that actually happened. One is that we used to, well, let's see, I don't know where to start. First of all, I remember one time when we came to the Buddhist church here to watch Japanese, this actress from Japan came over and we went as a family to the church to watch this person, whose name was Midori. I still have pictures of her in my photograph album, and I got her autograph and everything. And I remember walking home and it was so great, it was a nice day. And I was skipping along, it was fun. It was fun, it was just fun. And we sat on these benches, hard benches, but that was fun. And then my cousins and I, I remembered taking tap dancing lessons at the, what's the playfield called? Colman field? Is that Colman Playfield right across the street? Yeah. We used to walk up here and do that. And we had a friend, in fact, she's practically my sister. I've known her, her birthday is just two days after mine. And we used to get together. She lived on East Terrace, and she lives in Bellevue now with a husband. We don't talk to each other a lot anymore, but when we do, it's kind of like old times. I mean, it's like talking to the same person. And she knows my whole family and I know her mom died when she was a hundred. Her mom was really interesting. But anyway, so she wasn't part of... she didn't live in our enclave, but she lived up on East Terrace. And she used to come down and play with us, and she relates when she first met us, she was intimidated because there were a bunch of us. I mean, like I told you, there were nine kids in my cousin's family, and there's me and then there were the Moriguchis and we were all kind of lined up saying hi to Frannie. And Frannie's like the only one there, and she's like, "All these people, all these kids." So we were really, really good friends, and she and my cousin Kinyu and I, we just hung out a lot together, even after I moved from there. And then we lost touch when we were in high school because we were all busy with our own things. And then when we were in college, then we did some things together because we were all at the UW. And then, let's see. We just generally played together a lot, including Frannie. She just came over and played with us because there was nobody up there for her to play with at her apartment. So she's like a sister to all of us.

VY: So great, it was these early childhood bonds that you have with people and it's still with you.

MM: Yeah, exactly, it's amazing. Who knew that I still, well, I didn't know I was going to be living to eighty-two. I thought I'd be dead by sixty-something, probably.

VY: Why did you think that?

MM: When I was young? And then I reached... oh, just a minute, I better not die yet, I'm not ready to die. And then my parents died when they were seventy... well, my mom was seventy-five and my dad was seventy-six. My mom actually should have lived longer. She was the healthier person, generally speaking, but she died at seventy-five and a half or something like that. She died on the same day as my dad's birthday, so I'll never forget that. But anyway.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2024 Densho. All Rights Reserved.