To the three children

Hello how are you?

I am writing this letter today because I want you to know where you came from. To put it in more complicated terms, I am sending this letter with the hope that you will come into contact with the source of your life and with the concept of "connections."

Right now, you are 4, 2, and 7 months old, so you may not understand what I'm talking about yet, but I hope that one day you will read this letter, and I would like to tell you about the source and bond of your lives. However, Dad can only tell you half of your lives. Please ask your mother directly for the other half.

My father was born in Mexico, a country south of the United States, and grew up until he was 18 with his father's mother and father - in your eyes, your Mexican grandparents.

My Mexican grandparents got married in Osaka, Japan, and then moved to Mexico, but before that they lived in a town called Calexico, which is on the border between the United States and Mexico. My Mexican grandma was pregnant with my dad, and when she was about to give birth in the United States, she had a very scary dream. I heard that after that dream, she decided to give birth to my dad in Mexico, not in the United States. With her big belly in her arms, my Mexican grandma packed up her belongings with my grandpa, and they decided to move from Calexico to Mexico.

Your grandmother in Mexico had always been very good at English, but at this time she still couldn't speak Spanish. So when this fair-skinned, pregnant Asian couple who couldn't speak Spanish tried to enter Mexico with lots of luggage, the customs officials probably thought they were going to get a rip-off from them. But your grandmother was an amazing person. Apparently, she said the following to the customs official in English at the airport in Mexico:

"I heard that many people are going from Mexico to the United States to give birth to children here. I came from the United States to give birth to a child with Mexican nationality." When the customs officials heard this, they let all the luggage through without collecting any charges. Thanks to my Mexican grandmother's feelings, my father was born in Mexico and was able to speak Spanish.

From your perspective as a grandchild, your Mexican grandfather may seem like a kind grandfather who always lets you use his smartphone, but from your father's perspective, he is a very strict person. When you were a child, your father was most afraid of being scolded by your Mexican grandfather. Your Mexican grandfather was always busy with work and often not at home, but I think he really cared about his family.

My Mexican grandfather has always been an idea man. He is always thinking of new things. And he is an amazing person who can put them into action. When my father was about to graduate from high school, he started thinking about where he should go to college.

Keeping in mind that my father, who was born and raised in Mexico, did not have sufficient Japanese language skills to study in Japan, my Mexican grandfather told my father, "It's about time you started thinking about college, but no matter where you go, there's an application form and you have to write why you want to study at that university, so think about it a bit and practice."

At that time, your father just followed what he was told, thought about what he wanted to study at university, and practiced writing essays. Your Mexican grandfather looked over the essay many times, corrected it many times, and your father rewrote it many times. Then he said, "Yes, this is good. It's a good reason to apply. Now, this is the real thing," and handed it to you, which was the application form for the University of Tsukuba that your father was going to attend. To be honest, your father didn't even realize that it was an application form, and only realized that he had finished writing it when he had finished writing it. (It seems that your Mexican grandfather had been preparing for your father to attend that university from the beginning.) So you successfully entered the University of Tsukuba and met the woman who would become your mother.

Life is full of wonders and you never know what's going to happen. If your Mexican grandmother's dream hadn't been so scary, your father would have been born in America. If your Mexican grandfather had made your father apply to a different university, you would never have met your mother. Your father and mother are alive thanks to many connections and ties of life. And I'm so happy that we were able to give you three lives from them. Thank you for being born.

Whenever my father introduces his family to everyone, he always says this.

"I'm a second-generation Japanese-Mexican. My wife was born and raised in Japan, and our three children are American."

America is a country that immigrants worked hard to build. While I'm happy to be able to raise you in America, I want you to know how many connections and lives have been connected in order for you to be born. At the same time, I want you to know what you have inherited from your parents and ancestors, leave the good things to the next generation, fix what needs to be fixed, cut off what needs to be stopped, and live your life moving forward. Mom and Dad are cheering you on with all their might.

In my next letter, I'll tell you that half of you are from Shimane and half from Osaka.

From Dad

© 2015 Toshiro Obara