A Vocation Brought to Life

An uncle by relation, who doted on me like his own child from the time I was small, passed away at the full age of 97.

The surviving siblings and cousins, too—a grand passing in old age, with no deep sorrow or regret—greeted the family funeral with refreshed expressions, even as they felt the loneliness of farewell.

In life, he was beloved by many as a neighborhood doctor—always bright and positive, a man of many hobbies and hearty curiosity: haiku, swimming, fine food—and I respected him, thinking, “How nice it would be to live like that.”

The last thing I could do for my uncle in this world, it suddenly occurred to me, was a “coffin flower design”—to beautifully arrange and design, around my uncle sleeping in the coffin, the flowers he had loved in life; and so I went and re-arranged, beautifully, the flowers the relatives had offered into the coffin.

I thought it might be a rather forward, self-serving act, but from around the coffin rose cheers—”Keita, bravo, beautiful, as expected of a flower artist”—and I was wrapped in the joy of being able to repay my uncle, a repayment that is the very height of a life spent involved with flowers.

“Uncle, in the next world give my regards to my father, who went before you, and to my aunt.” My many memories with my uncle are my treasure.