Okaasan in Costcoland

A little Japanese old lady in a strange land - where everything is bigger, brighter and much more fattening!
Dear Son took his mother to Costco, that emporium to the great American truth that you CAN buy everything cheaper.

I just wish I had a whole video of this event. But I was working.
He took her out for a Japanese lunch at a noodle restaurant, and then - because time was short and he needed shopping and she needed a walk - he spirited her away to a fantasy land of giant packaging, huge decorated cakes and Xmas illuminations that would light up half of Ohio.

She held onto the trolley all the way round the store, for balance. And bought mammoth bags of dried seaweed snacks and rice crackers. He steered her AWAY from the giant bottles of shochu liqour.
And they bought the big pizza and came home.

:-)

In the evening we ate the pizza and I asked her about the experience. She kind of remembered going. But had absolutely no comment or conversation about it. This is dementia in action: a few hours after that whole experience she had nothing to say about it. For sure, she has never been in a shop so huge and with so many unfamiliar things.
But no comments. Just vague agreement sounds and a few words when we talked about the shop and how cheap the pizza is, how US military families come shopping there etc.

Yesterday DS took okaasan for a walk locally to the ordinary supermarket. Walked around it and came home again.
In the evening he commented: "Her walking really isn't very good. I had to hold her hand most of the time. She almost lost her balance. Her walking isn't good. She can't go alone..."

Yeah.
Right.
Today he leaves for Tokyo for a week.
He'll come back and then the ski work will start.

Yo ho HO!

When he comes back I told him we will fix the winter arrangements for Okaasan.
Daycare?
Day worker visiting for chat and cooking?
Taxi driver to take her somewhere?
Nishi-guru's exercise video on a timed loop?

and...that letter of authorization to allow me to send Okaasan to hospital if all else fails.