The Short Story!
In 1986 I met Michiko when she arrived in the United States to learn English. She had just gotten off of a plane and I was introduced to her. We met, I took her to a hotel, kissed her on the cheek, gave her my address and left. We corresponded, met and fell in love, married and are living happily ever after.
The Whole Story!
In 1986 I was single and was asked to go to China with a Square Dance group being led by a long time friend of mine. I did not square dance but consented to go to China with the group. The only reason that I consented to go was that the group would stop in Tokyo for a few days. I had been in Tokyo in 1953 and 1954 while I was in the U.S. Army. I was stationed as a Psychiatric/Medical Technician at a hospital in Tokyo and had never been back. From this day on China became involved in my life.
On this trip while flying from Shanghai to Peking I was a seat mate to a young Japanese girl who wanted to talk to me in English (which was difficult). She also asked if I would become her pen-pal. She also talked about someday she wanted to visit the United States. We talked and when I returned home from China there was a letter waiting for me from Yumi-chan. After a few letters in which I had told her if she ever came to the U.S. I would be happy to have her as a guest in my house if she was going to be in the San Francisco/San Jose area.
A little while later I receive a letter in which she says that she is coming to the U.S. Thinking that she would be here for just a few days I asked her when and for how long. She advised me that she would be here for two weeks. TWO WEEKS!!! What was I going to do with a Japanese girl who doesn't speak much English. Then I found that she was coming into L.A. and had not reservations to get to San Jose. I told her that I would come to L.A. (400 miles away) and meet her plane. I took the 8 year old daughter (Lindsey) of my niece and we headed to L.A. I figured that I could spend a few days in L.A. and kill some of the time.
The Meeting
We arrived in L.A. the day before she was to arrive. We stayed at a motel overnight and met her plane the next morning. When she got off of the airplane we went to the Motel advertising board to call my motel and have them pick me up. While I was calling I heard Yumi-chan speaking to someone in Japanese. After the call I turned around to be introduced to her seat mate, a Japanese lady by the name of Michiko. At this point I am 57 years old and she is 27 years old. She was going to a California State University in Humbolt California to learn English. This is a university at the northern end of California. She told me that her plane did not leave until the next morning.
I took her back to the motel with Yumi-chan, Lindsey and I. Since we were leaving the motel for Disneyland I wanted to make sure she was all OK. I helped her check in, took her money and paid for the motel, left a wake up call for her in the morning and found out what time they would take her to meet her plane. After everything was in order I carried her bag back to her room. I opened her door and made sure that the room was OK. I gave her a kiss on the cheek and left. Oh, I forgot, I also had given her my address and asked her to write when she arrived in Humbolt to make sure everything was OK.
The Visits Begin
I got a perfectly written thank you letter (written by her room mate) from her a few days later. At this point I think I was already in love but knew that the chances of a romance between a 57 year old Caucasian and a beautiful 27 year old Japanese women was not likely. We wrote back and forth a few times and it was close to Thanksgiving so I invited her to spend a typical Thanksgiving with me and my family. I advised her that there would be very few people on campus during that time and she was welcome to spend the time with us. She accepted and I met her at the airplane wondering if I would recognize her again. I did!
We had a good time during the holidays. Mostly she set around silently and watched and listened to what was going on. We did find some time to be alone together for a few minutes and we could talk a little. Everyone liked her and welcomed her with open arms. The family just thought that she was this friend who I had met at the airport. Little did they know……………..
Following the holidays we continued the correspondence and talked on the phone a few times. I then invited her down for our Christmas Holidays and she consented to join us. I took her to a small Japanese restaurant for dinner. She was very happy because it was the first time she had had Japanese food since she left Japan. I found out that she could put away a lot of food. When we walked out of the restaurant I put my arm around her waist and she returned by laying her head on my shoulder and putting both arms around me and thanking me for taking her there. We walked to the car that way and she was all smiles. Finally, I thought, maybe I am making some headway. I think that on that vacation it was the first time I was able to give her a good night kiss. Just a small one.
She goes back to school and we continue the correspondence and telephone calls. With the month of March came Spring Break. Again I asked her to spend Spring Break with me and she consented. I was one happy man. This was the beginning of the romance. This was when we discovered each other and something began to happen between us. At this time I thought that I had a chance. Following Spring Break we were with each other almost every weekend. I either flew my own airplane to see her or she got on an airplane and came down to see me. It was at this point that we realized that there was a strong connection between us. We found a hotel in Humbolt that has a swimming pool and we spent time together in the pool. During the day we toured around this very beautiful, green part of California.
Of course her school was getting out soon for summer and I invited her to live with me in San Jose and I would enroll her in a private school in San Jose to continue her English education. At the end of May she joined me and started as a student of the Golden Gate Language School. We spent a lot of happy times together for the remaining months of 1987. But worries were about to set in.
The Worries Set In
As we got to the end of the year she told me that she wanted to return to Japan at the end of the year for a few months. I understood that she would want to return to her country but was not secure enough to think that my love for her would overcome her love of her country and her family. I would ask her when she would return and about the only answer I could get was "maybe in a few months", how many months "maybe 6". Then the faithful day came and she climbed on the airplane and even though she had left some clothes I was not sure if she would ever return.
I wrote her many letters and called her many times during this period and finally she said that she had reservations to come back to the U.S. and to me. Happy days!!! She returned and we continued our relationship with great love. In mid 1988 she consented to marriage and we were married at the end of November in 1988 in our home. Yasuko Suzuki played the organ while her father Mr. Akira Suzuki walked Michiko down the aisle. Happily we said our I do's and started our married life together.
In 1986 on a plane from Shanghai to Beijing, China, I was a seatmate to a young Japanese girl who wanted to try out her English on me. We talked and ended up exchanging addresses. Later that year, after some correspondence, she said she wanted to see the United States. So it was that I, at 56 years old, found myself driving to Los Angeles to meet this Japanese teenager when she came for her visit. To keep things under control I had my 8-year-old niece with me as a chaperon.
A little background: I already had lost my first love, mother to my two sons, to breast cancer in 1977. I then met Ann a couple of years after that and married her. She brought a 12-year-old daugh-ter, Dawn, into the marriage. Ann and I divorced but I was "Dad" to Dawn and remain so today.
After the divorce I never dated much, and when I did it was typically with a lady of my own age group. I had never been interested in younger women, nor did I meet anyone who really caught my fancy. So I just laid back and traveled.
So here I was at the L.A. airport to see my new Japanese friend get off the airplane. I greeted her and she introduced me to her seatmate, a 28-year-old Japanese lady named Michiko. Michiko was coming to this country to learn English at Humbolt State University near Eureka She had to stay overnight in Los Angeles so I took her to a motel near the airport. I also got her registered, carried her bags to her room, at her re-quest gave her my address, kissed her on the cheek and left. Un-known to me at the time, I had just met my second soul mate.
Michiko wrote and thanked me for helping her at LAX and I wrote back and invited her to spend a typical American Thanksgiving with my family. She accepted and I picked her up at San Francisco Airport. We had a good time (although much time was spent trying to decode her English). She returned to Humbolt, but since Christmas was just around the corner, she joined us for that holiday, too. I couldn't wait for spring break.
It was at that time that things began to come together for us. From spring break until summer, I either flew to Eureka or she to San Francisco on weekends so we could be together. Summer came and she joined me.
In late 1988, just before her 30th birthday, we were married in my home with all of my children and grandchildren in attendance.
Now, when my first wife, Sue, had breast cancer, she was told she could not risk getting preg-nant again. In 1968, I decided to have a vasectomy. So I had told Michiko that I could not have children.
Well, in 1990, Michiko became pregnant while we were traveling in China Yes, the vasectomy had reversed itself without our knowledge. Our first "miracle," a son, was born in 1991, followed in 1994 by another "miracle," a daughter - my first. Life is good! I feel that I have had two perfect marriages and I think often of many people who never even get one.
Because airlines played such an important part of our relationship in the beginning, it is ironic that my wife now works as a ticket agent at San Jose Airport. If you happen to take the flight from San Jose to Tokyo and notice a beautiful Japanese lady with a big smile in an American Airlines uniform, look to see if the name tag says "Michiko Cooley." If it does, tell her that her husband says he loves her!
Don Cooley lives in San Jose.
Married Life - Another Perfect Marriage
To be finished later.
