Reflecting on Katsuo's mother in Episode 8 of 'Jaa, Anta ga Tsukutte Miro yo'
In the blink of an eye, we've reached episode 8, and there are only two episodes left of 'Jaa Tsuku'. Perhaps it's because watching 'Ai no, Gakkou' in real-time every week has become a habit, or maybe it's just that this year's dramas have been a bumper crop. I feel lucky to be able to watch both 'Jaa Tsuku' and 'Royal Family' in real-time every week.
Still, the episode where Katsuo's mother goes on a mini-runaway in episode 8 really hit home for me... It made me reflect deeply on how I really need to be careful. I'm sure there are other parents of my generation who felt the same way. It's so realistic, isn't it? The mother's meddling and the son's feeling that it's an unwelcome favor.
She's what you'd call a very capable mother from the old days. She wants to do everything for her child and doesn't want them to have to do anything. Doing things for them is her happiness. She feels she should teach them how things ought to be as a parent. In a way, I respect meddlesome people, but since they're now called fossils, the flow of time is cruel.
After my son went to Nagoya for university, the first time I visited his apartment to see how he was living was in the autumn of his freshman year. The purpose was to see the handsome gorilla at the local zoo and to do a trial run for a trip the following spring, but if it weren't for my son, would I have been able to do my 'first solo flight trip'? There's a possibility I wouldn't have had the courage to go that far. For a mother, her son living alone is something she worries about quite a bit.
During my first visit, he let me stay at his apartment and we ate dinner together two or three times, but once he started his part-time job and club activities, even when I was there, he would go out in the middle of the night and come back in the morning. Even when I thought we could at least have dinner, he'd say, 'I can only do it from 10 PM!' so I gave up...
In March, I suddenly decided to go to Nagoya for three nights to treat him to something delicious as a joint celebration for his graduate school advancement and graduation, but we couldn't eat together and I didn't even see his face for a single second... Since I had nothing to do in Nagoya, I went to Kyoto to have fun.
When I sent a LINE message saying, 'I'm in front of the gorilla at Higashiyama Zoo now,' I got a cold reply: 'Oh, that's nice, have fun.' I did have quite a bit of fun seeing the zoo and Doala, but... I did have fun, but... I really wanted to at least have one lunch with him. *Sob*...
So, even though my son hasn't been paying any attention to me lately, watching episode 8 makes me tell myself, 'This is fine.' There's no need to do grand things like cooking or folding laundry like Katsuo's mother. Just giving him some pocket money and leaving quickly is the best way. Or rather, if I just transfer the money, maybe I don't need to go at all (laughs).
And since it seems my son has a girlfriend, I'm sure the day will come when I meet her, but I have to zip my lips so I don't say anything unnecessary, or I'll be disliked. Once children grow up, parents have to treat them like they're someone else. I must keep in mind that worrying is different from being overbearing.
I often fight with my daughter about that. Every time, I reflect and think, 'Oh, I said something unnecessary again...', but after a while, I do it again. Giving advice on how to raise my grandchildren, how to manage the household budget, and so on... I end up speaking up because I think it's for the best, and then I get scolded. The other day, I said, 'Geez! If you ask me for advice, I'm going to want to say something, so don't tell me things that make me worry in the first place!'
It's no use, isn't it? We're just a generation that can't keep quiet, aren't we? Hahaha.