My Grandpa, the fighter

My grandpa is a fighter. 

And leaving is always so hard. So emotionally difficult. 

I had the pleasure of spending a week with him this time, which I am eternally grateful. I would accompany him to his home or hospital where he would get dialysis for his kidney. I would bring him lunches on days off from dialysis and watch him eat, try to talk to him and watch him fall asleep. I hope he enjoyed my company as well. He would mostly cry when he saw me, and after a while, he would just be quiet and stare at my face.

He was never much of a talker, my grandpa. He never really told stories or how he felt like my grandma. My grandma is very transparent (which I appreciated) and my grandpa a bit more reserved. Moreso now, he doesn't talk. But he tells me he is happy to see me with his tears and his eyes. He doesn't have to say much to express that. I know that he wishes he wasn't in this condition and that he could come back home to LA with me, just to visit a while longer. 

Old age and getting old is terrible. I wish I could stop it. But the most I could do for my grandpa at this stage was just to hold his hand and be by his side. I hope he continues to fight and stay with us as long as possible.

(Grandpa eating lunch at his home)

(He loved the bagel I brought him. He loves bagels, especially onion bagels. I'm glad
he enjoyed it)

(On my way back to my aunt's house, I would pass the Hankyu train station. This trainline has so many
memories tied to me and my family. I love this burgundy color train.)

(Outside the terminal at Itami)

(ANA check in counter at Itami)

(I don't quite remember this airport but before KIX was built, this was the airport we used a lot. My dad
has fond memories of this place)

(Waiting area at Itami)

My Bachan's bento are the best. Like literally, all of her children (my mom and aunts) rave about it. Still to this day, they are adults but love having her make their lunches (bento). Likewise, my grandma's grandchildren (The Lady and my sister) love her bento too. She makes the BEST tamago yaki (sweet egg omelet) and I love her onigiri. This was a fantastic bento, my kind of bento. Tamagoyaki, onigiri, hanpen and Japanese sausages. My goodness, it was glorious. When we got to Haneda, we finally got a place to sit and a few minutes before we had to board, so we ate our really late dinner together.

The pros of traveling with an elderly woman is getting upgraded. We were upgraded to Economy Premium and were right in the front row seats. The leg room was fabulous, plus we got little cool things like slippers to walk around the airplane with. I love flying with ANA!! However, this seat did get slightly annoying because I had no where to put my feet again. It just like danged in the air (because I'm short), I wish I had an ottoman or something.

(My grammy, all set and ready to go! I can't believe how lucky I am to still be
able to travel with her!)

.........................And we're back in LA. Wow, big jump. The first few days are always such a culture shock to me. It always has been, ever since I was a child. Coming back is depressing and usually takes me a week or so to get back in the norm of things.

The Man made progress on the ceiling and rushed to finish this all up by the time I got home. The ceiling drywall was screwed in and the lights were installed. We're still missing the two surface mounts, but the recessed lighting is in. Ceiling looks great! Again, the Man has proven he can do anything! (and thank you to the Man and his mom for cleaning up the disgusting mess before I got home).

Caught In Two Worlds,
The Lady

The Lady in Japan, the Man in LA

So the positions have swapped, the Lady was in Japan for a week, the Man stayed home. Sorry for the late post, it's hard adjusting and getting back into the norm after being away for a week. Plus there are a ton of images that I have to upload, picking the best ones.

The plane ride was long but I expected it to be long I guess. Flying ANA was nice, the service, food, seating was all very good. It's just so damn long. Flying redeye, I thought I would be able to just sleep the whole way through, but that was not the case. Woke up about 5-6 hours in, just to realize we still had about 6 hours left.

Boy, I was glad to land in Osaka at 8am finally after having a stop over in Haneda, Tokyo, It's nice to be back in familiar grounds. My aunt and uncle came to pick me up in their new car and we drove back to their place. I love the smell of my aunt's house for some reason. That first whiff of smell you get as you enter her place brought back a flood of memories. Something about certain smells that trigger so much in your memory. I love it.

After washing up and getting settled, off to lunch!

(Sandaya, where we had lunch after my arrival)

(My dear old grandpa, he's the sweetest. Started crying when he saw me. This
is the appetizer ham and sliced onion salad)

(My sweet family, everyone looks well, grandpa's a bit teary)

(Oh the love of my life, love this woman so much. I was so happy to see her)

(Feast!)

(Yummy steak on a sizzling plate)

(On the way to lunch, I luckily caught some sakura sightings)

(Beautiful sakura cherry blossoms)

Back in LA.......

The Man had started to rip down the ceiling in the entrance and begin putting in more lights and drywall it....Apparently, the house was a great bloody mess. Thank goodness I wasn't there, because as the Man said, I probably would've had a heart attack.

(That's a lot of plaster rubble)

(Blocking off the way to the living room)

(New recessed lighting is in!)

(More recessed lighting and hot wires for the surface mounted light fixtures we
haven't picked out yet)

Busy busy!

The Lady

Life's Spin

Strange how sometimes life just turns you around, spins you a 180 degrees the other way and then bonks you in the head and says wake up. Taking a second from the construction updates and focusing on real life stuff. Family. When family is affected, stupid little things like construction and color of tiles really don't matter anymore. They seem so minuscule even though it kind of stresses me out.

My dear grandpa has basically been hospitalized since January. I briefly went to visit him in Japan in March mostly due to a scare of worsening conditions. My grandpa is a strong man, hardworking, no nonsense kind of man, who took care of his family and worked basically his whole life. It was heartbreaking to see such a man as I have always remembered strong, to be weakened and hospitalized. It really affected me emotionally when I went in March. It was very hard, devastating, heart wrenching and most of all, I felt complete and utter helplessness. 

He is stable now and is doing okay to an extent, but still hospitalized. However, I just received some daunting news from my relatives that he is once again not doing so well. It is as easy as shattering a piece of glass. Bad news of family members feels like that to me. So fragile. It can change like that, at a snap of a finger. And again, I feel helpless being miles and miles away. 

Just last night, the Man and I ran into a friend at the local hardware store as we were leaving after checking out some floor tiles. He is also a diver and shared some stories with us of his dives. I actually didn't know he dove, so it was exciting (always) to hear a fellow divers adventures. He has been everywhere diving, and I found myself envious of his adventures and dives!! I have forgotten so easily the thrill and excitement that diving gives me. I've been so consumed with this freaking house that I have forgotten everything. Seems like all I get is bad news lately about the house, I have forgotten the amazing, exhilirating feeling that diving gives me. It was just so great and so fascinating to hear his stories and his dives.

As cliche as it sounds, you really have to stop and smell the roses once in a while. One minute you can be so consumed about one thing and the next minute, it's all forgettable. As a diver once said, do a 360 spin before ascending out of the water. Lesson learned, do a 360 every once in a while.

Spinning,
The Lady