実家を金銭的に支援しようとするなら、どうやって資金をねん出しようか。私の給与の一部は我が家の生活費で、それをのぞいた全額を投資に回している。おこづかい支出は貯金を切り崩しているようなもの。時短勤務を解除して、1.17倍になった給与の増額分をあげるとか？いや、でも、次男の中学受験が終わるまでは「時短」をキープしたい。定時に仕事が終わることすらないけど、でも、夜間の残業を常態化されると困るんだ。
I’ve been thinking about how I could financially support my parents, but where would the money come from? A part of my salary goes to our living expenses, and the rest is all invested. My spending money basically comes from dipping into my savings. Maybe I could stop working reduced hours and give them the extra money from my raise? But then again, I want to keep my shorter hours until my second son’s done with his entrance exams. I can barely finish work on time as it is, and if I start working overtime every night, it’s going to be tough.
なんか気分が上がるものはないかなと、最近腕時計やアクセサリーを物色していたのだけれど、私も好きにやりすぎると老後苦労するんだろうか。今日は外出ついでに腕時計を見に行ったけれど、実物にそこまで心動かされなかったので買うのはやめといた。
Lately, I’ve been browsing for watches and accessories, thinking I need something to lift my spirits. But I wonder if I’m going to struggle in old age if I keep spending like this. I actually went out today to check out some watches, but none of them really caught my eye, so I decided not to buy one.
それでも気分が上がるものを、ってことで結婚指輪のサイズ直しを思いついた。9号の指輪、もうきつくて外しにくい。11号に直してもらうことにしました。お直し価格は41,800円。これだけでノーブランドの新しい指輪買えそうだよなぁ。
Still, I wanted something to make me feel good, and then it hit me—I should get my wedding ring resized. The size 9 ring is too tight now, and it's hard to take off. So, I’m getting it resized to an 11. The resizing cost is 41,800 yen. Honestly, I could probably buy a brand-new, no-name ring for that price.
刻印は彫りなおしますか？と聞かれた。もうそんな小さな文字見えないよ。何て書いてありますか？と聞くと読んでくれた。結婚記念日って2007年10月7日だったんだ。へぇー。彫り直しはしないことにしました。もうきっと一生読めないから。
They asked me if I wanted to re-engrave the inscription. But I can’t even see such tiny text anymore. I asked them what it said, and they read it to me—apparently, our wedding date was October 7th, 2007. Huh. I decided not to get it re-engraved because I’m never going to be able to read it anyway.
結婚記念日として彫ってもらったのは挙式の日。海外挙式だから入籍はもっと早かった。戸籍を調べてみたら9月2日。結婚記念日ってどっちなんだろうねって不毛な会話を何度かした記憶がある。「結婚記念日を祝うのはやめよう。忘れて揉めるのは無駄だ。」という夫に同調したもんだから、入籍の日も挙式の日付もすっかり忘れてしまっていた。
The date engraved on the ring is our wedding ceremony date, but since we had a destination wedding, we registered our marriage earlier. When I checked our family registry, it turned out we got married on September 2nd. We’ve had a few pointless conversations about which one is our actual anniversary. I ended up agreeing with my husband when he said, “Let’s just stop celebrating anniversaries. It’s a waste to fight over forgetting them.” So I ended up forgetting both dates altogether.
たまたま先週、長男が部活で次男が合宿の折、夫がイタリアンのランチに連れて行ってくれた。死ぬまでにやりたいことをリストアップした中に「コース料理を食べる」ってのがあって、夫が毎月でも行こうと息巻いてくれたやつだ。結局1年近くたってようやく初めて実現。今思えば17回目の結婚記念日っぽい？
Last week, when our oldeer son was busy with club activities and our younger son was at camp, my husband took me out for an Italian lunch. I had put “eating a course meal” on my list of things I wanted to do, and he got all excited about taking me every month. It took almost a year, but we finally made it happen. Now that I think about it, I guess it was kind of our 17th anniversary?
イタリアンのコース1人前6,000円也。食べたあと自宅にも戻って二人とも寝てしまった。お腹がいっぱいで血糖値が上がってダウンってこと。「レストランもいけないのか。死が近づいているね。笑。」毎月でも行こうなんて無理だ。夫が週に何日も行っている「会食」とやら、私も若いうちに行きたかったなぁ。
The Italian course meal was 6,000 yen per person. After eating, we went back home and both knocked out. We were just so full that our blood sugar spiked, and we fell asleep. He joked, “Can’t even go out to a restaurant anymore? Guess death is near.” Going out monthly isn’t going to happen. My husband goes out for work dinners a few times a week, and I kinda wish I had done more of that while I was younger.
今日は長男の学校の保護者会。先日ご褒美として買ったブランドバッグが初出動。サイズもばっちり、保護者会帰りにデパートに寄るのも恥ずかしくない。うまくいったぞ。でも、デパートがきらきらしすぎてて、逃げるように帰ってきた。就職したての頃はよくデパート行ってたけどなぁ。母はデパートの外商のメンバーだったっけ。少なくとも私の「なにか気分が上がるもの」はデパートにはなさそうだ。
Today was the parents’ meeting at my elder son’s school. It was the first time I used the brand-name bag I bought as a reward for myself. It was the perfect size, and I didn’t feel embarrassed about stopping by the department store afterward. It was a win. But the department store was so fancy, I ended up running home. Back when I first started working, I used to visit department stores all the time. I think my mom was a member of one of those exclusive department store clubs. But at least for me, it seems that my “something to lift my spirits” won’t be found in a department store.
