The 'Punctuation Mark' Life Gave Me: A Luxurious Time Facing My Mother

I feel a certain gratitude for having fallen ill.

It became a poignant catalyst for re-examining the way I had lived my life until now.
I discovered a somewhat eccentric hobby called frugality, and I was able to realize once again the pure kindness poured upon me by my parents and friends.

While enjoying the benefits of modern civilization, I record my own life through social media. I now know the preciousness of such daily life.

I aspired to be independent at 19 and left home.
It wasn't that I disliked my family. I just wanted to live by my own strength.
I fell in love like anyone else, and experienced both marriage and divorce. I was not blessed with children, but I have the pride of having lived my life following my own will until today.

Concerned that my body had become incapacitated, my mother has been visiting me frequently lately.

Once you leave home and start your own family, opportunities to see your parents naturally decrease. The words exchanged are limited to status updates or administrative communication.

As for me, I would only return home around New Year's, and even then, it was just to show my face where my siblings were gathered.
We would sit around the kotatsu watching TV, and occasionally someone would ask, 'Do you want an orange?' I would wait for a suitable time and say, 'I think I'll head home now,' and get up.
I repeated that scene for decades. Of course, that is also one form of happiness.

However, with the arrival of an unavoidable disability, my daily life changed completely. Upon learning of the situation, my mother began visiting often to bring me supplies.

'Thank you, please don't push yourself' I would reply, and my mother would laugh, saying, 'I was just worried about whether you were eating properly'.

As I reach the second half of my life, wouldn't it be rare to have the opportunity to face my parent so deeply and engage in such repeated dialogue?
I am deeply grateful to be able to spend this time now. This is surely a necessary waypoint that fate has prepared for me.

The greatest blessing I found amidst my disability.

For the encounters that this 'life as a patient' has brought me,I want to say 'thank you' from the bottom of my heart.