Right now I am filled with gratitude that I am finally back to stage!

It was a very long journey.

Can I get a little emotional for a second?

Oh, I love Rakugo and really can’t imagine my life without it!

Thank you so very much, all the amazing people, who came to my Rakugo performance at Onehunga Library this morning.  You were all so friendly and smiley, and really made my day!

There is no Rakugo without the audience, so thank you, thank you, and thank you!!!

I hope you enjoyed the performance as much as I did, but it was an extra special occasion for me.

Here’s a little confession.

I hope you didn’t notice, but I was actually a bit of a wreck from the spine injury that I had had about a month and a half ago.  It was the first time to get on stage since, and it was the longest break I’d ever had.

I hadn’t even been able to do seiza, the Japanese traditional sitting position, for over 20 minutes…

until yesterday…

But voilà!

You witnessed me sitting through nearly an hour today all because of your fantastic support!

What I have learned through this injury is that everything has a silver lining if you are willing to see it. 

Thanks to this injury:

I appreciate life more.

I thank people and everything around me more.

I have learned about my body (its limits and potentials) and perhaps about aging as well.

Here’s the amount of exercise I have done this year.

Can you see that the amount of exercise dramatically increased in October when I got injured?  It’s all because of the rehab.  This may sound a little strange, but I exercise more because of the injury.

Don’t question how come I’d been such a lazy blob between February and September (and how I was so motivated in January… it’s just like you!), but isn’t this exceptional?

Life is good.  Can you tell from my smile in the picture at the top?

That origami medal hanging from my ear was a gift from a little Japanese/ French/ Kiwi girl.  She came up to the stage and gave it to me.  How special is that!?!

Unfortunately, the string was a bit too short for my massive head, so I instead hang it on my ear, saying “Thank you for the beautiful earring!”

The girl gave me a big smile 🙂

My journey continues.