Three Years Since Graduation

     

     April 21st, 2009 will be a date I will always remember. It not only marked the culmination of an defining chapter in the story of my life, but most importantly, it marked the beginning of a new one. I remember asking my parents following the graduation ceremony to accompany me to one of UBC's most prestigious libraries (and a second home to me throughout those marvelous five years) and take the shot you see above. I had always pictured myself throwing my mortar board high up into the air in that very same spot each time I walked through the library’s main entrance. I wanted to capture that moment in order to remember it always. 

I loved every minute of being at that university. It exposed me to a variety of points of view and perspectives about the world, which I would otherwise probably never have come across with. It pushed me to analyze everything from more than just my own perspective. It provided me with the opportunity to make connections with people worldwide and above all, it taught that if is up to be, it's up to me. 


Life is after all, what you make of it. 


In short, UBC gave me wings and inspired me to venture out into the unknown. 

It wasn’t long before I found myself saying my goodbyes to friends and family and officially said sayonara to Vancouver. As soon as I fastened my seatbelt on that direct flight to Tokyo, I knew that my life would be changed forever. As it turns out, it did; in ways I could have never even imagined.

Although I knew where I was heading in very broad terms, I knew next to nothing about the place I would live in an other specifics. In fact when it came to Tsuruga city, all I had at my disposal was a wikipedia article which offered some very basic information and a pretty picture of a beach and a pine forest. Little did I know then, that the same beach in the picture (Matsubara beach) was about to become my backyard and that a couple of years later I would not only be taking my wife-to-be there on our very first date, but be strolling around with my son just a few months later.

The past three years have to a great extent seem to have flown by, but in the process I have learned and got to experience a variety of different things which I wouldn’t trade for anything. Among them, no doubt, becoming a husband and father have been the highlight. 

If I could sum up the most important thing I’ve learned over the past three years since that graduation day is this:

 There are some things you gotta experience to understand... 

HAPPINESS is one of them. 

...and it is undoubtedly better when shared. 

May all your beginnings lead you to find it and always keep it present. 

 Tuum Est