I think everyone near my age know what is the question that I mean. If you still underage :-) and don't know what question is it, it's "When?" And for those of you who still act as if you don't know what's when, it's "when will you get married?" :-)
Believe it or not, I've heard the question asked again and again that little by little I've got used to it. I even had my lip automatically answer it: "Well, I still don't have the bride. Can you introduce one to me?"
Usually my friends just consider it as a joke, but some take it seriously. Some even try to advise me using fortune telling, like what happened when I went to Kuki (a city in Saitama prefecture) 2 weeks ago.
(I told you before that a lot of my friends here believe in fortune telling. Just read this blog if you haven't read it yet.)
I was invited to a BBQ party by Sekine family, and since it's been a while I didn't go there (and since party means lots of food :-) ), I went. Sekine family also invited many of their friends, and quite a lot people came, young and old. The party lasted until late at night, and because I already missed the last train to Tokyo, they told me to stay over that night. Some other guests had their home near by, so even though it's already late, more than 15 people still stayed and had a chat. Many of them were new faces to me, but still, we could hold a warm conversation (anyway, I was the only foreigner in the room and those people were eager to know more about foreign things :-) ). Topic of talk came one after another, and finally, came along the long expected theme: marriage (long expected? who's expecting it? :-) ). I was wondering who's among the people there who would (dare :-) ) to ask "the question", when Sumiko-san, the mother of Sekine family, look at me and asked it.
I felt every single eyes on the room focused on me and, instinctively, I answered with "the answer". :-)
Sumiko-san took a deep look at me for a while, then said mysteriously like professor Trelawney from Harry Potter :-), "I can help you found your girl of destiny if you told me your birthday"
She's rummaging a shelf behind her, and I was 100% sure that she's trying to get her crystal ball there :-). To much of my relief, it wasn't crystal ball or other medieval tools often found in a magical movie. Instead, she produced a book from there. I gave a peek on the cover and it said that it's about birthday fortune telling. :-)
Sumiko-san opened the book on my birthday and she mentioned a list of dates that, according to the book, should be the birthday of the girl of my destiny. There were around 7 dates (does it mean that I will have 7 girls of destiny? :-) ), and even though I don't believe in fortune telling, I tried to scanned my memory for those who born in those dates.
"Sorry, it seems that there's no one close to me now that was born on those days"
Tachihara-san, one of the guests, said, "I know one"
"Really?", I asked enthusiastically (over-enthusiastically for someone who said that he doesn't believe in fortune telling :-) )
"Yes, my daughter was born on that day... but as you know that she's still 9 years old now, you have to wait for 11 years if you want to marry her" :-) (For your information, here in Japan people come of age at the age of 20)
Of course she was joking. The topic of talk turned from marriage to fortune telling (at last... :-) ), however, one of the guests asked whether he might see my palm. I extended my palm to him, and after gave a glance on it for a while, he smiled and asked my age. I told him that I would turn 30 this year, and he smiled again (why do people have to be so mysterious when it come to fortune telling?).
I really had to to fight the temptation to say: "what did you see, master Yoda?" :-), when finally he said, "Don't worry, she'll come. Just do what you should do now, and when the time comes, you'll be ready"
I'm not trying to tell you that I believe in fortune telling now, but I try to use any good advice that people can offer me. It was a good advice of him (regardless what he saw on my palm was correct or not), that I should try to do what I can do today, enjoy everything that I only can do when I'm on my own, so that when the time for someone to step into my life finally comes, I can welcome her with no regret... (the question now is, will "that time" finally come? :-) )
Anyway, I think I don't need to hurry. If the prophecy were right, I still need to wait for 11 years until my girl of destiny coming of age, then I'll be ready to answer "the question" :-)
