morse code

Description

Ms. Donna Broadstock was a very special person who impressed me a lot in many ways. We made friends to each other through an amateur radio contact. When I was 17 years old, I was sending a message by Morse code from my high school's radio club, looking for someone to have contact with, beaming to North America. She answered with a very weak signal in heavy noise, all the way from Big Bear Lake, California. We enjoyed routine contacts on the air on schedule after that. The path between Japan and the United States was open at 07:00 in the morning. I began to go to school much earlier than before. When I was 18 years old, she wrote me a letter saying she wanted me to come and see her. I started to work part time at truck terminal after school to make money to go to the states. Meanwhile, she wrote another letter to NBC TV "Fantasy Show" (the program to make viewers' dreams come true) to make me on the program to see her. A year later, in 1983, I was in the TV studio in Burbank to see her face to face for the very first time, as she planned. I was ordered to jump out behind the sofa bed, and she gave me a hug. We met each other at last. Unexpectedly, I had a good chance to see her for the first time in the TV studio. I was given a cheque for the amount of my airtickets. Donna got that sofa bed as a prize. I was staying at her house with her family for two months for free. She was a painter for living. They took me to many places while I was there. I was very happy to get to know a lot of people there. They celebrated my 20th birthday by surprise. In December 15, 2003, she passed away of heart attack. Her grave is in Victorville, right next to the one for her loving daughter, Alice. Looking back to the moment with Donna, she influenced me a lot in my life in many ways. She showed me what American life was all about, and how beautiful their family love was. I felt as if I were a chosen one, by a mystery of a mere accident, and also by wonder of radio contact.