Thankful for...

I'm thankful for my dear, dear students who helped me get through another day of standing in front of a room full of people and talking about Dad.

The worksheet giving everyone the vocab and infomation about funerals and cremations...scatterings etc in the UK helped a lot and through 3 classes in the day we talked about the differences between UK and Japan...the scattering in particular is an interesting concept to many people - and the fact that a family then has no grave to go visit and maybe just errects a name plate on a park bench or a tree as a memory of a loved one - in Japan there is a whole after-death system of memorial ceremonies every few years, where the priest comes, family gather for a party etc

And I'm thankful for the wonderful felt cake that Higuchi-san in Shin-Sapporo made for me! Look at this thing! She took 2 days to sew it. Amazing. It is so realistic.

And I'm thankful to hear tonight from my step-aunt that Jane is doing ok with the puree food eating and trying to walk. The hospital are even giving a 4 to 6 week discharge schedule for her, if she goes home with a full-time carer and special equipment at home. Amazing!

But...not so thankful to hear that Jane fell out of the hospital bed again and has cuts and bruises...apparently she tried to reach for something on the bedside table and lost her balance...and because she herself had insisted on only half-level guard rails...she fell from the bed onto the floor.....

THAT is not the way to get out of hospital and home again.