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"Live your belief and turn the world around" -sg

Mar
21
thread
Box filled with post-its with S... Box filled with post-its with Sam's quotes
As we were preparing for Sam's celebration of life memorial, we found this box. Sam must have collected them over the years. Some of them are quotes that Sam wanted to remember, but most of them are his own quotes.

The "IDEAS" box got filled as Sam worked at his Medical-Dental building lab and the puppets in the back were also created as he worked with denture material.

I typed up the quotes and put them in fortune cookies as suggested by Kelly. It's kind of fun to open one every day and be inspired.

"The bottom line of a good marriage is commitment." -sg

"Hate is not the opposite of love, indifference is." -sg

"Life never stays the same." -sg

"DOING WHAT'S RIGHT is hard to do,
When no one knows but dog (God) and you" -sg

"What you did is more important than what you are going to do." -sg


"Good examples are great, but poor examples are also necessary." -sg

"Salesmanship is not selling your product, but selling yourself."

"TIME IS ALIVE, TIME IS OUR FRIEND. TIME WILL BE WITH US TILL THE VERY END." -sg

"Little lies lose a lot of credibility." -sg

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"BOCHI BOCHI" - TAKING MY TIME STEADILY

Mar
16
thread
WOW!! SO MANY HELPING HA... WOW!! SO MANY HELPING HANDS
Bochi Bochi is a Japanese phrase I often heard as I was growing up with my Japanese Immigrant grandparents. The phrase means steadily and persistently getting things done.

I'm choosing to send out my appreciation "bochi bochi" for all the comforting words and helping hands as we remember my husband, Sam, since he passed on New Year's Eve 2017, a little over three months ago.

I also trust that "bochi bochi", everyone's words and connections will persist and keep me company.

The words also have the implication of "by and by" - not over reacting and taking life a little at a time.

I wonder what Sam would have done with this phrase?

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LET'S PUBLISH A BOOK OF SAM'S CARTOONS!

Mar
14
thread
Sam, drawing his last contribut... Sam, drawing his last contribution!
An e-mail from New York reader of the weekly comics, drawn by Sam Goto for the last five years and published in the North American Post, requested the publication of a book of the cartoons. Following are the reader's comments:

To the Editor:
I do not know how many subscribers you have from New York to the NORTH AMERICA POST but I always look forward to receiving a copy. However, I was a bit disappointed when it was cut down to just two issues a month. Regardless, please continue with the interesting reportage and your excellent staff and writers.
And by the way many years ago I was at a JACL convention in Seattle. What a wonderful city you have. And also as forewarned it did not rain when we were there.

I just now received the NAP (1/19/18) and was saddened to read David Yamaguchi's SANSEI JOURNAL "The Cartoonist Below Me" of the passing of Sam Goto. My deepest condolences to Dee Goto.

Mr. Yamaguchi had the privilege as he described it of being the first person to review the lay out of "Seattle Tomodachi." In my case it is always the first page I turn to where the cartoon is located and also of fondness.

I do not know if there are any plans but I would like to propose that the NAP publish a book that features the entire "Seattle Tomodachi" cartoon from the very beginning to the end. I am sure it will be a best seller. And I will indeed get a copy of his book "My Fifty Years in the Medical-Dental Building.”

Mr. Goto's character features a youth somewhat ethnically oriented with Nikkei philosophy, life style, education, adventure, and a inu companionship that at times think like a human being and other amusing characters all put together in a enjoyable comic format.

Thanks Sam for the many years for your great cartoons I enjoyed and by many of your fans. Unfortunately I never got to meet you. No doubt you must have been a great guy to have as a friend. May you rest in peace.

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IMAGES THAT MAKE ME SMILE

Feb
27
thread
"Success is when you look ba... "Success is when you look back at your life and the memories make you smile."
This was during the short time Sam was at home with Hospice care.

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CELEBRATION OF SAM'S LIFE

Feb
21
thread
Miss him a lot! Miss him a lot!
It was Sunday, September 3rd, 1971. Sam’s main Goto Dental Lab client–his former boss, Dr. Sproule had scheduled a 3 week trip to Australia in October. Sam’s sister Kiyo and husband Herb were visiting and Herb said, “You know, Irene works for Pan Am and we can get discount tickets because we are family?”

Sam and I decided it was our 10th anniversary and maybe we could take a trip to Japan? We only had a month to plan and needed our birth certificates in a hurry. I had mine but the next day, we went to the King County Vital Statistics Office on the 9th floor of the King County building to get Sam’s.

To our surprise: Sam was born at 3am on January 13, 1933 on a Friday the 13th, at 1303 Washington Street. He was the 3rd child, Mom was 23 and his Dad was 33. Their address was Route 3, Renton, WA. We left for our trip on 10/3.

On Sunday, New Year’s Eve 2017, all the family was gathered on Mercer Island, WA, as Sam had passed on that morning here at home. Irene, the youngest of Sam's five siblings, said, “Do you realize that today is December 31st? 31 is 13 backwards.”

We’ve chosen 3/10 @ 3:30, at the Mercer Island Community Center, to celebrate Sam’s life. It will also coincide with the printing of a special edition of the North American Post–scheduled from last summer to be released in March, with 16 pages of just Sam’s comic strips. He had drawn a weekly comic strip for the paper the last 5 years. The last one drawn was for 2018, the year of the dog.

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GOING FOR THE "GOLD" IN MARRIAGE

Feb
17
thread
Yellow was Sam's favorite col... Yellow was Sam's favorite color.
The 2018 Olympic games in PyeongChang and going for the “Gold” awaken an emotion in each of us around the world. We are interested in the stories of dedication for bringing out and achieving the best.

A plaque hangs on our kitchen wall: “Dee’s mission: To bring out the best in myself, my partner and others.”

I remember the first evening after Sam and I came back from our three-week honeymoon in January 1962. Sam had secured our one-bedroom apartment in Seattle before he left for our wedding in Eastern Oregon. Our apartment was – 411 Federal Avenue E – a couple blocks from Marketime on Broadway and Seattle’s Capitol Hill district.

“I’ll make dinner.” I said as we carried in the groceries from Safeway and put them away..

“Okay,” as Sam headed for the coat closet to take out the vacuum. He never said much, but was always busy fixing, organizing and doing. I thought vacuuming was the woman’s job so I was grateful that he was trying to help with the housework.

As I sat on the stool watching our stir-fry dinner cook, I could hear Sam banging all the walls and furniture as he was vacuuming. I was so tempted to call out something like, “You need to be more careful!”

I continued to sit on the stool and thought, “If I say something, he’ll probably never help with housework again?”

It had already become clear how sensitive Sam was that I had just completed a Public Health degree in Nursing and he just had two years at the College of Idaho. Part of the reason was that Sam had been drafted into the army expecting to finish later with the GI Bill and it was suspended in 1956 for a time.

I remember one time when I was invited to a party with my professional medical associates, Sam refused to go. I worked to cajole him into going, but decided to stay home with him. I knew he was feeling uncomfortable.

About seven years later, in 1969, Sam opened his own Dental Lab on the fourth floor of the Medical Dental Building, taking charge of his life and feeling confident. I silently gave myself credit for helping build his confidence and was proud of not being critical.

Years, later Sam and I had an open discussion about his positive self-assurance with our marriage and surprised me with: “I did my homework too!”

Sam is gone and I miss him a lot. We were a good team.

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ENDINGS ARE SOME NEW BEGINNINGS

Feb
5
thread
Somehow this symbol resonate... Somehow this symbol resonates well as an "X" for ending and an "O" for new opportunities with the warmth of what Sam and I had.
I'm sitting here reading grief counseling suggestions about positive ways of moving on with one’s life. It occurs to me that I want to have some new beginnings, but I also want to keep most of the projects going that Sam and I started together.

I see a quote pinned onto Sam’s work area bulletin board downstairs: “Strive for excellence, not perfection”. There is another quote taped to one of the cupboards in our kitchen: "Art is the illusion of spontaneity".

For me, to move forward with our writing projects, what I’ll miss the most are Sam's critiques I used to get before we published. I used to do the same for him. Nothing was more satisfying than to get totally absorbed for a couple days into publishing our HEAL THY SELF newsletters.

Most of the time Sam set a theme with a drawing. Next, I scanned it and typed the explanation. The hardest part was to decipher his handwriting. Next I wrote up more articles he had scribbled or from other newsletters with testimonials. Sam read what I wrote, made comments and added a complementary drawing.

Then, we couldn't get over how many times we had to reread and still make corrections for several days. I can still see Sam taking the pages upstairs for bedtime reading. In the morning, I read all the scribbles done in pencil and made the corrections on the computer. It was a lot of fun

It’s not going to be easy to find another writing partner, but that’s where I might find some new beginnings. Everything doesn’t have to be the same.

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YEAR OF THE EARTH DOG

Feb
1
thread
According to the Chinese Horo... According to the Chinese Horoscope, 2018 is the year of the earth dog. Can we use the qualities of the dog to enhance our physical and mental health?
Dogs deserve their title of 'man's best friend'. They're loyal, intelligent, devoted and affectionate and don't talk back. Through almost all of are married life we had dogs. Sam also used to say, "They teach us about death - because they have relatively short lives. Specially, growing up on the farm, the animals taught us about dying."

For sure, these good qualities in my relatives and friends have sustained me this past month as I have faced my new life alone after Sam passed on New Years Eve.

One of the most helpful books was given to me by cousin Sharon: HEALING GRIEF, FINDING PEACE, by Louis E LaGrande. I like the first quote in chapter one by Helen Keller, "When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life or the life of another."



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JANUARY 13TH MEMORIES

Jan
13
thread
Drawn by Kirin to remember ... Drawn by Kirin to remember Grandpa today on his birthday. There are also 13 layers of the cake and yellow was Sam's favorite color.
Today is January 13th, Sam’s birthday. Tomorrow is January 14th, my birthday. Shortly after we started seeing each other every day in 1960, I was studying for my Public Health degree at the U of W school of Nursing and Sam was working late in his dental lab in the Medical Dental Building. He said something about being born on Friday the 13th. The Seattle phone book had a listing of calendars that year and I was able to find that January 13 was a Friday the 13th in 1933. That further solidified that maybe we were meant to be together.

In 1971 we decided to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary with a trip to Japan. We needed a copy of Sam’s birth certificate for the visa. We went to the King County Vital Statistics office on 4th Avenue and were amazed to find all the 1s & 3s: born on 1/13/33, Friday the 13th, at 3am, at 1303 Washington Street, Mother 23, Father 33.

Sam said, “I only had one party when I was 13 years old.” In 1964 I planned a surprise party when he turned 31. Those are the only two birthday parties he participated in as far as I know. I brought sushi to Dr. Branch's office in the Medical Dental building, one year as a surprise. We could not get Sam to come up to the eighth floor to participate. When David Branch went down to get him, Sam locked his lab door on the fourth floor and through the door said, “I said I didn’t want a party so leave me alone.”

I’m further in the mood to play a Johnny Horton CD with songs like NORTH TO ALASKA & BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS that was a Sam favorite.

ALL FOR THE LOVE OF… “Life was so sweet dear… you’ve gone and left me. All for the love of …”

Horton died at age 35, but left a legacy of his love for freedom, bravery, heroics in the building of our country. One of Sam’s last comments when asked, “What are you most grateful for today?”

His answer, “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Today, Sam’s brother and sister are coming over. Lynette is here. We can do what we want with his memory. He would have been 85 years old. Eight and Five add up to thirteen?????

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COPING - CONNECTING - CONTRIBUTING

Jan
9
thread
Drawn by our 10-yr-old gran... Drawn by our 10-yr-old granddaughter, Kirin. I verbally asked her to help me by drawing three c's for a blog post and she came up with this in just a few minutes.
"Any fool can criticize, complain and condemn; most fools do." -B Franklin Too may of us spend our time foolishly, it's true.

I've lost a partner and what I am valuing the most are the thoughts and messages I am receiving. I trust that I'm coping by going over the memories of the great 56+years we had together. I am valuing the connections. I intend to keep using my connections to help me alter the plans Sam and I had for these next few years and continue to contribute without his drawings.

Sam liked the feeling that he was ahead with his comics so the North American Post will have his comics for a few more issues. I can still continue our writing projects, but will miss his input.

I realize we have the next generation coming along. Kirin says, "I'm not ready yet," but I got her to do this as she was packing to go back home last week.

This may help me revive and continue my enthusiasm for continuing the legacy that Sam helped with - the links in history and now will continue.

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