12/17/2021 It has been another challenging year

It has been another challenging year for many people. I hope you and yours are safe and well, and settling in for a happy holiday season!

I am staying home in Menlo Park, California, this year end. I hope to resume traveling to Japan in mid-March 2022, and to Paris before the summer if the new COVID variant, Omicron, does not get worse. I have not been out of the U.S. for over two years now. Hopefully, we will be back to the “new semi-normal” life next year.

“Staying-at-home” has brought me joy as well. I have played the violin more, played ensembles (thanks a million to my musical friends), started my own blog (www.emimusicfriends.com), made walking a routine, got together with friends and cooked more at home.

My piano trio group, MONATS-Trio, welcomed a new pianist this summer. We will have our recital on Saturday, February 26, 2022. I am attaching a program so hopefully those of you in the neighborhood can join us. I would love to see you!

It has already been 10 years since I retired. Although I am getting less productive, I have finally started to enjoy the slow-paced life more. This lifestyle has become a reality partly due to “staying-at-home” the past years. I have also re-learned that happiness is to have “something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for.” This was a life motto of my late husband who lived his life exactly that way.

2022 is the year of Tiger (my zodiac). Tiger is the third of the twelve Chinese zodiacs. According to the legend, Tiger was confident that no one could compete with its speed and vigor for the celestial race that would decide the order of the zodiacs. When Tiger climbed out of the river, thinking it was first, it learned that Rat (the zodiac of my late husband) placed first for its cunning, and Ox (the zodiac of my brother in Japan) placed second for its diligence. This left the king of the jungle having to settle for third place 😊😊😊.

I hope that you embrace the new year with an open heart and go forward with hope and courage. I look forward to seeing many of you in 2022, especially those whom I have not seen these past years. Please stay safe and well, and drop me a note or send articles to the blog to share your life with me and our readers.