Seeing my parents' daily life at my childhood home for the first time in a while

The other day, I took my eldest daughter to the city pool.
This pool is a few train stops away, and my parents' house is right nearby.

After we finished playing, I suddenly thought of calling my parents.
Are you home?
Since they were both home, I decided to stop by with my eldest daughter for a break.

Come to think of it, this was the first time I had taken my eldest daughter to my parents' house.
I myself hadn't been back once since my eldest daughter was born.
In other words, it had been over four years since I last visited.
My parents always come to visit us, so there was never any need to go out of my way to visit them.

Since there are no toys for children, I thought my eldest daughter would say she wanted to go home right away.
But once we got there, she seemed to have more fun than I expected.

First, as soon as she saw the refrigerator, she said,
You've stuck too many things on here!

Our refrigerator doesn't hold magnets, so we don't have anything stuck to it.
For my eldest daughter, the very fact that there were so many things stuck to the refrigerator seemed fresh and new.

She also spent time opening and closing the sliding doors, which we don't have at home.
She was surprised to see the exercise bike my mother bought for her diet, exclaiming, There's a bicycle inside the house!

None of these things were particularly special.
But for my eldest daughter, there were many things different from her own home.

She doesn't have many opportunities to visit other people's homes, so
perhaps that alone was enough to make it fun for her.

I also took a good look around my parents' house for the first time in a while.

The furniture and appliances had changed, and there were souvenirs from trips and stuffed animals I didn't recognize.
Things I didn't know about had increased before I knew it.

Usually, when my parents come to visit us, we talk mostly about my daughters.
So, I hadn't really thought about how my parents live their daily lives.

But in my parents' house, which I hadn't visited in so long, there was a daily life I didn't know about.

I thought I knew my parents, but when you live apart, the things you don't know about them increase.
Even though it's only natural, it felt somewhat strange.

While I was thinking about that, my eyes suddenly caught a photo on display.

Last year, when my mother turned sixty,
she said, I want us all to get together for the first time in a while,
so my siblings and our respective families gathered to eat out.
It is a group photo we took together at that time.

I have three siblings, but since we all live apart, we rarely have the chance to get together.
In fact, we haven't gathered since that day.

Looking at the photo, I thought that for my mother, that day must have been a special one.

Right now, I live with my daughters as if it's the most natural thing in the world.
But someday, my daughters might have their own lives too.
At that time, I'm sure having the whole family gather will become something special.

Then, it was time to go home.
As we left the house, my eldest daughter said, I want to come back again.

To me, it's my 'parents' home,' but to my eldest daughter, it's 'Grandma and Grandpa's house.'
I was somehow happy that she said, 'I want to come again.'

Let's come again.
Next time, it doesn't have to be just because we went to the pool.

Even if we don't have any plans, I think I'll try taking my daughters to my parents' home once in a while.