一昨日の夜、高校の同級生O君の歓迎会をスペイン・モロッコ料理店で開いた。私を含め４人が集まった。全員66歳、高齢者である。私以外の３人がO君に会うのは48年ぶり。しかし、O君はすぐにみんなを認識する事ができた。O君は日本の修士課程を修了後、アメリカのUCLAで言語学を学び、現在はワシントン大学で日本語を教えている。ずっとアメリカに住んでいる。今回は一時帰国である。高校時代は遥か昔だが経験を共有している為、すぐに楽しく色々な話をする事ができた。何よりもO君がとても喜んでくれたのが良かった
The night before last, we held a welcome party for my high school classmate, O, at a Spanish-Moroccan restaurant. Four of us gathered, including me. All of us are 66 years old, which means we are elderly. It had been 48 years since the other three had last seen O. However, O recognized everyone immediately. After completing his master’s degree in Japan, O studied linguistics at UCLA in the US, and is currently teaching Japanese at the University of Washington. He has always lived in the US, and this was his rare visit back to Japan. Our high school days were a long time ago, but because we share the same experiences, we were able to talk about all sorts of things right away and in a fun way. More than anything, I was glad that O was so happy.
