Bad family - we actually SKIPPED a month!
If it isn't bad enough that we are still limited to 15 mins a month visit time. We go and forget to visit in March....
Not quite so awful in fact, because I think we visited end of February...and then we went yesterday - April 8. But, still.
March kind of got away from us - busy busy. Tax season, helping a friend pack up and move home - and then two extra jobs that came out of the blue and filled my schedule.
Oh. And we bought this.
Yup. An RV/camping car!!!
If you know me in real life, you probably know the plan - that after Okaasan passes, and we get the cat ready for new adventures - we are planning our retirement life all over Japan in an RV. It's been our plan for years now.
Well, recently we decided that the cat would probably need a long training time to get used to RV life, because now he only goes in a car to the terrifying vets. So he needs reprogramming that Car = Fun.
And. It might be fun for US to have an RV and do little trips.
So we looked for a used RV, saw a few and found this one in March. And bought it.
It won't come into our lives until the end of April (needed repairs from the previous owner's bumper damage etc) - but it IS coming.
Very exciting! This is probably not our eventual home, it's a small model. But an in-between RV for short trips and cat training.
And so. We didn't visit Okaasan.
But yesterday we did. Clutching the timer. We sat at her bedside.
She opened her eyes a few times. Appeared to make eye contact. The closed eyes again and drifted off into a dopamine-fueled semi-consciousness.
No strange sounds this time, no frantic head shaking. We stroked her hands, chatted about baseball and spring and the garden flowers.
Under the bedding and towels her little body is curled up, her hands are bunched into fists. The tubes go in and out.
Another patient in the room has the TV on, so there are familiar Japanese afternoon TV shows chat in the background. The nurses are bright and friendly.
That is Okaasan's reality. We dropped in.
And came home again.
