“Mom, let’s go on a trip”: A trip with my three sons for the first time in 50 years

A parent-child trip for the first time in 50 years,

The other day, I received some unexpected words from my three sons.

“Mom, shall we go on a trip?”

For a moment, I thought I had misheard them.

To be honest, I was a little surprised.

That is because, while “mother-daughter trips” and “couple trips” are common in this world,

I had thought that a “trip with three adult sons and their mother” almost never existed.

Looking around, my sister and my daughters-in-law go abroad or to hot springs with their mothers many times a year.

Watching that from the sidelines, I felt envious, but at the same time, I had given up on it somewhere along the way.

I used to think, “Since I have boys, that kind of thing just doesn’t happen.”

Looking back, we only went on one trip together as a family.

I was still in my 20s, back when my stamina was second to none.

“Where do you want to go?”

When I asked that, all three of them said in unison,

“The beach!”

I can still remember the scene from that day as if it were yesterday.

The sleeping face of my second son, with his mouth open, wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and red rompers, who had fallen asleep spread-eagled on the sand after getting tired from playing in the sea.

On the train ride home, my third son, who was only a few months old, was sleeping soundly while drooling.

As for me,

My toddler second son, my third son still asleep, wet clothes, and a bag full of food.

"How on earth am I going to get off the train?"

Yes, that was when I was in trouble.

My eldest son, who was only three years old, lifted two bags with his small hands and said,

"I'll carry them!"

That's what he said to me.

That small back, those reliable words—I still can't forget them even now.

And before I knew it, it had been about 50 years since that trip!

Now, it's my sons who are trying to take me on a trip.

Well then, where shall we go?

Truth be told, I'd love to spend a week relaxing overseas.

But my sons are all still working full-time.

Even if they take time off, it's at most two or three days.

In that case, realistically, it might be a hot spring here in Japan.

But it doesn't matter where we go.

"Mom, let's go together!"✨

That one phrase makes me happier than anything else; I'm just so happy.

Lately, my neck, shoulders, and back have been stiff and sore.

But it's a strange thing; just thinking about the trip

makes my body feel a little lighter. My heart feels like it's floating.

How long has it been since I felt like this?
I'm sure it will be a wonderful trip no matter where we go.

After all,

Because the ones I'm going with are

the three little ones from back then