Good Morning everyone!

Welcome back to our Betsuin Sunday service and Dharma school.

I am glad to see everyone again. How was your summer vacation?

Was it good? I had a great summer.

 

On August 6th, Michiko and I were married. We had a wedding and reception here at the Betsuin. In June, I wanted to do something special for our wedding. And I decided to make Michiko’s wedding dress. When I told Rev. Bob “I was making her wedding dress”, he said “you are what?” “You are going to make it yourself?”

 

 At First, Michiko tried to find a dress pattern and she brought one from Japan. She is so skinny although I am not. So, I had to resize the pattern to fit her shape. And I made a special paper pattern.

 

 Next, we went to Joan’s sewing shop to get dress material and sewing stuff. We bought 15 yards of satin material for the dress...15 yards! It was way too much material.

 

 

 Because, I did a miscalculation. Michiko brought the pattern from Japan. The Japanese pattern used the scale of centimeters and meters, the same as in Europe. But, here in the United States, people use the scale of inches, feet and yards. When we went to Joan’s sewing shop, the price tag said “now on sale 1 yard $6.50”.

 

I estimated a length of the satin material by centimeters. So, I had to convert the centimeters into yards. I recalculated in my mind…and I got the answer… I estimated it was ABOUT 15 yards. So, I said to the Casher “may I have 15 yards of the satin material?” Then she was surprised and replied “15 yards? Are you sure?” …After I completed making the dress, I had 3 yards left over.

 

At our wedding, everyone was surprised that I made the dress.

And many people asked me, the exact same question “Rev. Kaz, was it difficult to make Michiko’s dress?” So, I answered “It took me 2 months to make it. But, it was not difficult. Because I used a pattern and a sewing machine.

 

 

Maybe some people might wonder…“why did I make her dress?”

 So, I want to respond to that question.

 

When we feel sad, we say “I am sad”. When we enjoy something, we say “this is fun”… But when we truly feel so sad, we just cry… When we truly enjoy something, we just laugh. I often massage Mrs. Tak Ito’s shoulder 2 or 3 times a week. Anyway…when I massage her softly, she says “That’s good. Right there. Right there.” When I massage her shoulder harder, her only response is “Oh, ya. Oh, ya”. I could tell she really likes it then.

 

When our feelings overflow, we cannot express our emotions by the words. When our feelings overflow, we can express our emotions only by our action.

 

 I wrote a letter to Michiko. And Rev. Bob read it at our ceremony. I wrote “It is difficult to express my love for you by saying I love you… So, I made this wedding dress for you, Michiko.”

 

 

 

Do you share or express your deep feelings with your partner, parents, children or friends? I think it is wonderful to express our deep feelings with our actions and also have nice surprise to them.

 

I start today 2005-2006 Sunday Dharma service as a married man with my wife Michiko. She will also help Japanese Sakura Gakuen on Saturday and help Reiko’s kitchen on Sunday. Michiko and I cannot imagine our future yet. But we will always try to help everyone. I will try to find and create funny Dharma stories for Sunday Dharma services. So, please come to the Betsuin every Sunday until our next Summer Vacation!

 

In Gassho,

 

 Do you feel that our life is just a routine? I do not think so.

Everyday is changing. Even every moment is changing. We can never know what the next day or the next year will bring. Last year when we began Dharma school, I had no idea I would be so happy and so married this Sharma school year.