Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 130275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Warm Winds and Heartfelt Words
Savannah
Ōtsuchi, Japan
The next day
I STARED AT THE GARDEN WE’D BEEN BROUGHT TO AND THE PHONE BOOTH that sat within it. The sea lay over a busy road, but here we stood, in among a patch of wild greenery, looking at a simple white phone booth. It was old-fashioned English in style. There were benches scattered around, but this phone booth just stood here, rather alone and out of place.
“Years back, this town, Japan, endured a tsunami,” Leo said, and my heart skipped a beat. I cast my eyes around the small town. It must have been devastated. “This coastal town, in particular, was severely impacted. Many people died. The townspeople lost many members of their families in that single disaster.” Cael’s hand clutched me tighter.
“This phone booth was constructed a year before.” Leo walked up to it. “It is known as the Wind Phone. Inside of it is a disconnected wired phone.” I saw the black phone inside. Like something you saw in an older movie, before cell phones existed.
“The man who created it lost a cousin to cancer. And he missed him. He missed him so much that he didn’t know how to process it.” Those words were a stab in the chest. I knew what that felt like. “He felt that he needed a place to put his feelings into words. And needed a place to express them. So the gentleman built this phone booth in his garden as a way to speak to him.” I frowned in confusion. “This phone was designed to help with grief. It is a direct line to the afterworld and those who have passed over.”
“To understand why this phone booth is significant, it is important to note a few things here about Japan and the beliefs that many people here carry,” Mia said gently. “Japan is mostly Buddhist. And within Buddhism, people believe that the line between this life and the next is thin. They believe that everything in the world, in life, is connected, and that includes those who have passed away.”
I liked that notion. It reminded me of what I believed about the universe and stardust and the idea that we would eventually take our place back among the stars where we all originated. About our energies surviving beyond the grave, remaining in this life just in a new form. Never leaving.
“In households across Japan, many people will have altars in their living rooms dedicated to their deceased loved ones,” Mia continued. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, hanging on her every word. “They are filled with photographs and mementos of those passed, and fruit and rice and other such offerings are placed before them. People believe that although dead, the loved ones are still tied to their families and must be honored.”
Like the journal Leo and Mia gave us, I thought. It had kept me connected to Poppy. And I knew that even after this trip ended, I would continue to talk to her through the pages. I couldn’t see myself ever stopping. I didn’t know if that was healthy, but being here, hearing this about Buddhism and the Japanese culture, told me that it was okay. It was okay to stay connected to the sister I had lost. Through the journal, I had found her voice again.
“This phone booth is an extension of the home altars. It bridges that thin line between life and death in a healthy and personal way,” Leo said. He pointed at the simple white phone booth. “The phone inside is not connected to anything on this earth, but rather the afterworld. The man who built this, knew there was no direct line to his lost cousin, but liked to think that his words to him, rather than being carried down a connected line, were instead being carried on the wind. It is why it’s called ‘The Wind Telephone.’”
My hands shook as I fixed my gaze upon that phone, and that phone booth. Shivers ran down my spine as a timely gust of wind blew around us. Cael squeezed my hand twice. I squeezed his hand twice in return—I felt him shaking too.
“Another part of the Buddhist belief system, one not too dissimilar to what we learned in Varanasi, is that because our loved ones are still connected to us, we also must let them go. Within Buddhist thought, if we cannot let go of our loved ones, cannot shed the pain of losing them, then they cannot be set free, and instead become suspended in a kind of no man’s land in the afterworld,” Leo said. “So one of the most common phrases used within this phone booth are, “Don’t worry about us” and “I’m doing my very best”. People believe that it helps reassure those we love that we are okay, even if we are not, and helps them pass onto the afterworld and the next part of their journey.”