The Day My Mother Sent Me a Message in Formal Japanese

My mother's LINE messages suddenly switched to formal Japanese.
It started with 'Dear Kaede'.
I stopped in my tracks in the supermarket parking lot, wondering if something had happened.

My mother's generation has a unique way of using LINE.

For starters, there are no line breaks. They use spaces instead of punctuation. Even if there is only one thing to say, for some reason, there are three lines of preamble. The stickers are large enough to take up a third of the screen, and they usually feature a dog dancing that has nothing to do with the context.

My mother is pretty much the same. That's why it's scary when her writing style suddenly becomes polished.

The other day, I received a long message that started with my name. 'Dear [Name].' My fingers went cold before I even read it. A formal opening is usually for a formal matter. Something like a hospital visit, a relative, or something of that nature.

I scrolled down. Somen noodles. Myoga ginger. Incense sticks. Ice.
It was a shopping list.

Rather than feeling relieved, I felt annoyed. After I felt annoyed, I realized what I had been imagining, and that realization hit me harder. It seems that every time I get a message from my mother, I brace myself just a little.

My mother has been attending a smartphone class at the community center. The person who used to call me because she lost her reading glasses is now learning how to write messages. She said she was taught to start with the recipient's name. I understand that; when you learn something new, you want to use it. I do the same thing—when I learn a new word, I try to use it about three times that same day.

Still, I wish she wouldn't use formal language with her daughter.
When I told her that, she replied, 'But that's what I was taught.' And that was the end of it.

On the drive home, I opened that long message again.
Only the very last line had broken formatting.

It's hot out, so take care of yourself.

That part had no spaces. That part had a line break. The form she learned in class didn't hold up at the very end. I suspect she remembered to add it after she finished typing the main body.

My mother has always been the type to state her business first. Even on the phone, she always says, 'Oh, by the way,' before hanging up. I had always thought that was the real point of the call.

But somen, incense, and ice are all necessary for the Obon season. The business is business, and it is genuinely important. My mother just listed the necessary things in the necessary order.

It is probably me who wants to believe that the last line is the real point.

In the end, I only replied to that one line.
'Okay!'

It was three characters long. I didn't use anything I had learned.

*The manga was drawn using the Shin-Usami Style No. 6.

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