Ms. U (a woman in her 50’s) U さん（５０代）

June 12, 2016 I had been helping the flower shop that my brother ran for more than 30 years before the disaster. It was a family business of my parents but got swept away by the Tsunami. Before March 11, I had been thinking to stop working at the shop. I thought it was a good timing as my son was getting married and I wanted to be available to watch my grandchildren. I had been commuting from Nagatsura, Ishinomaki City for over 30 years. After experiencing the March 11 disaster, I developed a desire to sustain my parents’ business. My brother had already taken a different job, then. I knew running a business was not an easy task but decided to give it a try. My husband quitted his job and helped me reopen the flower shop. My husband always loved flowers and he used to tend his flower garden. Our 15-year old house, the garden, and all were swept away. We looked for a new land and build a new house, but we currently have double mortgage as we still had a mortgage left on the other house. When my husband’s health declined in 2015, my son left his job to help with the delivery. Being healthy is the most important thing! Even with the challenges we had, we all survived and consider ourselves lucky compared to the people who lost their lives with the disaster. On the day of March 11, I was arranging flowers on the podium at the middle school for the graduation ceremony. It was quite remarkable to witness how the teachers reacted to the earthquakes. “Gather them!” Teachers gathered students immediately. Some teachers went on bicycle to look for students who had already left the school building. It is quite a contrast to one of elementary schools where many students’ lives were lost. I wonder if the teachers there were either new or lacked in the ability to make decisions. I spent the rest of the day after the earthquakes at the school. Warm rice balls were delivered by the women’s group in Iinogawa that day. About ten of us went back to the site where our houses were the next day. I reunited with my son there. My son went to look for his friend’s missing mother. It was strange that the fact I had a sister who lived in the area with minimal damage to take refuge had never crossed my mind then. It is a mystery to me to this day. I reunited with my husband who was safe. His two sisters bought us a land for the new house. My husband is the eldest son in the family, therefore, his home means the “permanent home” for them. They bought the site so that we could rebuild quickly which was also to ease their painful notion of not having a “permanent home”. To return their favor, we opened the flower shop in July of 2011. I wanted to run the flower shop business just like my parents had even though I had learned that running a business was not easy observing my parents when I was growing up. I told myself I must turn the March 11 event into an opportunity to sustain our family business and the thought of losing it was painful. Having the flower shop connected me to others. The customers from a long time ago came back which motivated me. I gained confidence to run the business. My son told me he wanted to join, too, and we discussed and explored various new business ideas together, such as online shop. When I was younger, I used to carry my son on my back while I worked at the shop. I was considering retiring as I wanted to take care of my grandchildren so that my son wouldn’t have to go through what I went through and avoid hardship. On the other hand, the flower shop was my life. I was confident that I could make it happen. It has been like living in a dream the past five years. It was a sad first year after we lost our house. I now revisit the various events from those days. I cannot be discouraged; I have bills to pay and not time to be sick. In the second year, I switched my mindset to “live with what we have”. I’ve watched my parents run the business and learned how things were on the days when the business was slow, but it taught me to be strong and to be resilient through the hardships. My husband lost his father when he was young and has been fulfilling his role as the eldest son for the family well. My husband and I visit both of our parents’ graves when the business is slow and ask them for more business. They help us each time and the customers come. It is strange, I didn’t think of them too much before the disaster, but I remember them often since then. I go with the flow, positively and search for what I can do in life. Women are tough. If you live positively, people will help you in a great deal. I had many regular customers who used to come to our shop at the previous location. The life is so wondrous, I had no idea that we would end up opening the new shop where they lived. It was strange how we came about to this land. I wonder if we were guided by a higher power. I was concerned about opening the shop in a new locality in the beginning, but it turned out to be the neighborhood where our regular customers lived. I am convinced we are all connected in some way. Those customers refer other customers to our shop. It’s been helpful that we’ve always kept good relationships with others. I try to see things in a positive light. I really appreciate my family’s support.