A Happy Day

Yesterday morning, I had two clients at my Shisui retreat.

The first was a new client who lives in Shisui.She had been looking for a bodywork practice nearby and happened to find me.

Most people who visit me here are regular clients from Meguro.They come out of curiosity, wanting to see the place, almost as though taking a little day trip.

She was only the third local client to visit.

She told me she had been going for bodywork for years.Her usual practice had closed, so she was looking for somewhere else.

Even in high school, she used to visit an elderly man who practised bodywork.

Had my wife’s mother still been alive, she might have known him.She used to try all sorts of places, from bodywork practices to acupuncture clinics.

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The second client came from Ibaraki.They had found me through a video.

Two new clients in Shisui in one day.

That would not be particularly unusual in Meguro, but here it made for a special day.

Above all, working in Shisui means no commute.When I think of the time I spend driving to Meguro and back, I am grateful for that.

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After the sessions, I made lunch, and in the afternoon my wife and I went to the outlet mall.

There was nothing in particular we wanted to buy.Still, it is a good place to wander around.

Afterward, we went to a newly opened shopping mall to buy something for dinner.

The supermarket there stocks some rather good things.

At the meat counter, I spotted an assortment of beef cuts for yakiniku, marked down by 40 percent.

The beef was from Yamagata.

I bought it without hesitation.

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That evening, I made namul and egg soup.My father-in-law joined us for yakiniku after returning from golf.

My wife took a bite and said,

“This tastes like something you’d get at a yakiniku restaurant. It’s so good.”

I tried it too, and she was right.I had not realised yakiniku at home could taste so different.

Even my father-in-law, who rarely says anything tastes good, said it was delicious.

Later, my wife said, sounding a little proud,

“Even Dad said this was good.”

She had not raised the cow herself, but I understood how she felt.

My father-in-law usually eats only two or three pieces of beef, but that evening he ate more than twice as much.

I had brought home some beef at 40 percent off, and it turned into a surprisingly lovely dinner.