Dad's Smile and "O-okini" - The Heart of Gratitude My Father Taught Me
It has been a little over a year since my father passed away. Whenever I see his favorite treats, like bean paste dumplings or dried fruit pound cake, I feel lonely thinking, "Dad isn't here anymore..."
My father loved sweets. He especially loved anything with red bean paste💕
Whenever I bought a "Japanese Sweets Assortment" from the convenience store and brought it home, my father would be overjoyed and eat it all at once.
To keep him from eating it all at once, I would hide it on a shelf he couldn't reach, but there were times he would secretly get a step stool in the middle of the night and eat it all anyway😱
My younger brother once bought a pack of three bean paste dumplings, and after my father and brother each ate one, it seemed my father wanted my share too😅
But perhaps thinking, "It would be mean to eat it all," he would just eat the bean paste, and when I went to eat my share, only the dumplings would be left😅
When he was still able to go out on his own, he would take a taxi to his favorite convenience store to buy his preferred snacks.
He was on a first-name basis with the store manager, and it seemed he enjoyed talking with him as well.
After his dementia progressed, he started enjoying taking selfies with me on my smartphone.
He would look at himself in the photos and laugh out loud, saying, "I only have one tooth!"😀
These were photos we took just to pass the time on days he didn't have day care, but I am so glad I took them✨️
My father was the type of person who believed it was natural to do things for himself.
Even if you helped him just a little, no matter how clumsy the help might have been, he never forgot to put his hands together and say, "O-okini (Thank you)."
When my brother or I would come home carrying shopping bags, he would say this with a smile full of anticipation.
"Did you buy these for me? O-okini!"
And then he would put his hands together in prayer again🌿
After being hospitalized for three months due to a compression fracture, he worked diligently on brain training exercises after being discharged, saying, "If my dementia progresses any further, I'll be a burden to you all..."
He wasn't good at math, so he would secretly use a calculator behind the back of my younger brother, who was helping him with his studies.
Then, when he would proudly show me his work saying, "I got them all right!", my brother would tease him, saying, "Well, of course you did, you're using a calculator!"😀
But even though he was cheating, he was doing those brain exercises because he didn't want his dementia to progress and become a burden to his children✨️"
I am truly filled with a feeling of "thank you"💖
My father's smile and his "thank you"🥰 Even as he aged, he tried to do what he could for himself and never forgot to be grateful✨️
I want to emulate my father's way of living.
Even now, when I go to the snack aisle, my father's smile comes to mind🥰
(Dad's Smile and "Thank You" - The Heart of Gratitude My Father Taught Me: Kumu Murakawa)
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