Recently, we had been enjoying clear skies in May, but on May 13th, it rained nationwide in Japan. Since my company is closed on weekends, I spent the morning cleaning my room and doing laundry before indulging in a bit of necklace making. I’m trying to make around 50 necklaces from over 10,000 pearls.
However, I’ve only managed to complete four so far. Tomorrow, May 14th, is Mother’s Day. Although I have plenty of work I want to do, I’ve decided to go back to my parents’ home. It’s a once-a-year occasion—Mother’s Day. If I put myself in the shoes of a mother with three sons, I think I would appreciate at least one of them coming back home. I rode my motorcycle for two hours in the rain to reach my parents’ home. Even though it’s May, rainy days are still chilly. I completely felt the cold in my body. As soon as I arrived at my parents’ home, I took a bath and had a meal with my parents.
We had yakiniku for our meal. Whenever I go back to my parents’ home, my mother always takes care to prepare special meals for me. During the Golden Week holiday, which is a unique five-day consecutive holiday in Japan, my brother’s family came back home, and they all enjoyed yakiniku together. So, it seems like my mother prepared yakiniku for me when I returned home as well. By the way, in typical Japanese households, sushi, yakiniku, and sukiyaki are considered special meals. This concept may be a bit outdated, but I believe it’s generally accurate. These dishes are not necessarily expensive, but they are like symbols of “something nice.” They are akin to a birthday cake, in a sense.
My brother’s wife gave a cute bouquet of flowers for Mother’s Day. My sister-in-law received a teapot from my brother, and I gave her a gift of cosmetics. The cosmetics I gifted her are from a brand that my friend recently started selling, and they are a bit pricey. It includes a facial toner, soap, and moisturizing cream, totaling around $240. The cosmetics company has previously created several successful products in the domestic market, but they were all made as OEM for other companies. This time, they have created their first original line of cosmetics.
My parents are not people who place a lot of emphasis on anniversaries or special occasions, but my mother is always happy when her son comes back home. My father is a traditional and stoic person, so he doesn’t show his emotions. We hardly have any conversations between us. It’s not that we dislike each other, but we just don’t talk much. There are probably many reserved and taciturn fathers like him around the world. And ironically, those types of people tend to be talkative in other settings. My mother seems very delighted when I come back home, but if I stay at my parents’ home for more than three days, both of us start to feel dissatisfied, and sometimes we even argue. So, both my mother and I agree that it’s preferable to stay at home for no more than three days.
The homeland is far away, but it remains in our thoughts.
“The hometown is something to be nostalgically remembered from a distance, to be sung with sorrow, and even if one falls into destitution in a foreign land, it is not a place to return to.”
This is a song by Murou Saisei, an old Japanese poet. It’s a song that comes to my mind when my relationship with my mother becomes strained after being at my parents’ home for more than three days. For me, maintaining a good relationship with my mother requires keeping some distance. Although this song is not directly related, and its meanings may differ slightly, it somehow reminds me of that situation.
This is Lulu, who is kept at my parents’ home. I met her after a long time today. While playing with Lulu, I noticed there was a tick under her eye. I carefully removed the small tick with tweezers. However, since then, Lulu has developed a hostile attitude towards me. The Lulu who used to be friendly with me now sees me as an enemy. From Lulu’s perspective, she might feel that I suddenly did something dangerous to her body. Despite my efforts to remove the tick for her, I ended up being disliked by Lulu. I hope that by tomorrow, Lulu’s mood will improve.
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