A Smartphone-Free, Luxurious 30 Minutes

I first gave my eldest son a mobile phone during the third term of his sixth year of elementary school.
It was because I needed a way to contact him when he started junior high school.

At first,
he said, "I don't really need one," but now that he's in high school, he's on it all the time.

He uses it to play games, check train schedules,
and these days, he even uses GPS to see where his friends are,
and apparently there's even an app where you post one photo a day.

However, the other day,
he told me, "My phone is getting way too hot,"
so we finally decided to switch to a new one.
It was his first time changing models.

I was going to get him the same iPhone as before, but
the clerk recommended an Xperia, so we went with that this time.

After spending about an hour on paperwork at the shop, he couldn't use his phone until the data transfer was complete.

Thinking, "Sorry about this!" to my son, I decided we might as well do some shopping before heading home since we were already out.

As we entered the supermarket, I suddenly remembered something.
Something from a dream I had today.

"Hey, I had a dream today."
Yeah?
"It was super scary."
Yeah?
"Like, broccoli started coming out of the fridge."
Yeah?
"About six of them came out from everywhere, and they were all turning yellow or rotting."
"It was so scary."
...Yeah.

"And then, I had a dream last night that I was accused of sexual harassment at work."
...Yeah.
"They told me I shouldn't call people 'handsome'."

...It's so exhausting having to listen to Mom's pointless stories!!!

My son held his head in his hands at the supermarket.
Poor thing.
Without his phone, he had no choice but to face his mother's stories head-on.

We managed to finish our shopping and got into the car.
Then my son muttered,

"Come to think of it, I was so happy when you bought me a coloring book here."
Looking out the window,
"I used to take this road to go to cram school a year ago."
He started talking, bit by bit.

Usually, this would have been 30 minutes spent looking at his phone.
I think for my son, it was just an inconvenient 30 minutes.

But for me, it was different.
It was a luxurious time where I felt like I had my son all to myself.

Maybe I wouldn't mind changing his phone again next week.

On note, there are days when walking alone feels a bit lonely.

At times like that, I want my membership, "Buranko," to be a place where we can think together.

I'd love to get ideas from everyone, and sometimes I'll go ahead to check things out and report back, like "There was a hole there" or "That was a dead end" 🤭

Well, you might have to listen to a few of my pointless stories too 🤣
I'll try to keep the broccoli dream stories to a minimum, though ♡

If you'd like, I'm always waiting for you!