Granny gripes

I approached Grandma because she was a quiet bundle of sadness. She started out with polite conversation. Then listened a while as I talked with her neighbor. 

When she decided to jump in, there was no stopping her. She started with scolding me for being barefoot on a cool day, and for sitting on the cold stone floor instead of on the carpet. 

Yes mother, I'm sorry mother, is this better?

Then, the long pent-up list of granny gripes. She tries to be considerate but her neighbor cleans at all hours of the night. She's alone and lonely. Young people these days. Back in my day. People should know better. Nobody to talk to. Cycle back to the top and list the gripes again. They're real concerns. But classic Grandma. 

If we were in America, this is when the stale cookies and old coffee would be offered. If we were at Grandma's house, we'd have had some green tea. 

We hardly talked about the disaster itself. But once she had finished her gripes and talked about her loneliness to her satisfaction, she softened and told me about her current hero. 

Apparently there was a devout preacher in her hometown near the nuclear plant. She admires how many, many years he had continued to "believe in Christianity," as she put it. She thinks he must be 90 or so. 

"He stayed to the end. Insisted on staying until everyone else had left. He stayed. I was afraid for him, that he might have gotten exposed to radiation. When he finally left, he went to a facility where they take good care of him. He gave so much. He called me on the phone and he's doing well. Oh I want to go see him sometime!" 

We exchanged names and quickly found out we were both called Rei-chan when we were young girls. Grandma crinkles beautifully when she smiles. 

A little while later, she picked up her bags and announced that she was going home now. 

"But mother, you didn't get your relief goods yet."

She patted my arm. "I got a conversation. That's enough for today. I'll come back for the relief goods another time."

I saw her off. She had such a spring in her step that if she was 20 years younger, I know she would have been skipping. 

Sure enough, there it was. The classic Japanese granny wave. Every five or six steps, she turned back and bowed and waved. Good thing she turned the corner at the next block. Only a dozen waves or so. I hadn't bowed that many times in a row in years. 

Do me a favor, would you? Go have some stale cookies with your lonely Grandma. Eat Sunday dinner. Have too much cake. There's nothing quite like watching her revive. Even if her granny gripes cycle round a few times. 

Two smiling Rei-chans. Life is good.