Shopping

 

My mother had a successful life. She turned her hobby into her job. But this also meant that she was hobbyless. When she was active, she had really busy days. I think her recreational activity was shopping. Every weekend, she and my father would get into their car and head out to shop. Both of them had grown up during WWII. During those days, there had been shortages of various supplies in Japan. Hence, for my parents, shopping could be the most attractive leisurely activity.

About seven years later, after my mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, she attended adult day care daily. But, this was not an option on Sundays. Hence, my father would take her shopping on Sundays. But he ultimately passed away. My wife was busy on Sundays because she was a stage lighting artist. That meant that I had to stay with my mother at our house because we could not leave her alone. If she had gone out, she could have gone missing.

During those days, we spent Sundays shopping. The nearest small supermarket was half an hour’s walk away. We would walk to the supermarket slowly. It was said that walking was good for those who had Alzheimer’s disease. After we arrived at the supermarket, I would give my mother a shopping basket and say, “You can buy anything you want.” Then I would leave her alone and go to the smoking area. All exits were visible from the smoking area. So there was no possibility of her leaving the supermarket and getting lost. After smoking, I would reenter the supermarket and find my mother. She usually had something in her basket. We would pay for that and go back home, where I would cook the food she had selected.

Sometimes this worked; sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes I didn’t know how to cook the food my mother had chosen. When that was the case, I would wait for my wife to come back from work and ask her, “Do you know how to cook this food?” When the answer was positive, she would cook the item for us on the next day. However, sometimes even my wife didn’t know how to cook the food. I had previously assumed that a supermarket would sell only food that was familiar to us. But my mother sometimes picked up food items that were unknown to us: “Hey mom, even you have never cooked this food. I know because I have never eaten it!”

Farmers and fishermen, I own you an apology. Sometimes we had to dump the food because we didn’t know how to cook it. But please forgive us: After shopping, my mother would appear to be very happy.

Picture by Sato