Airplane

 

 My late granduncle loved in his hobby of making model airplanes. He designed an airplane, made its parts, and assembled them to make a model propeller airplane. Then he made it fly by the riverside. Some communities loved model airplanes. I heard my granduncle was a famous person in the communities.

 When I spoke with my granduncle, I was surprised about one thing. He loved airplanes, so I assumed he also loved to board them. But he had only boarded an airplane once throughout his life. I asked　him why. He said, “I can’t board on such a scary thing!”

 Today, flying materials are controlled by computers like drones. In my granduncle’s days, everything was controlled by old technology. My granduncle’s airplanes crashed easily. He tried hard, but they always crashed. He was afraid of boarding an airplane because he experienced so many crashes.

 We can board an airplane without fear because we don’t know much about airplanes.

Picture by TopVectors

Unlock

  　Many Alzheimer’s caregivers say that the “most difficult time for caregivers is the very first stage of Alzheimer’s disease.” I really agree with this. My mother had Alzheimer’s. I had taken care of her for 14 years in our house. Ironically, the progression of Alzheimer’s disease may make caregiving easier.

 I am writing this story about my mother when she was on the first stage of Alzheimer’s disease. It makes me blue even now. It is still painful to me to remember those days.

 On the first stage of Alzheimer’s disease, a patient may lose things easily. The patient becomes upset and insists that they “lost an important thing” almost every day. The family members are not aware that the patient already has Alzheimer’s. They look for the thing for a long time almost every day. They need to sacrifice their time and effort. These are huge.

 Many things create trouble when we lose them. Key is one of them.

 My mother keeps her important papers like bankbooks in her drawer, and she locks it. In those days, she insisted she lost the key almost every day. In most cases, I could find the key. But sometimes, we couldn’t find it. I needed to call an unlocking company to open the drawer. It costed $200 every time. It was expensive.

 The key expert had never showed me how to open the lock. When he would open the drawer, he would ask us to “go to the next room.” I wished I knew how to open the locked drawer. It would have made things easier for us.

 I solved this problem when she lost her bankbook. I made spare keys. When she lost her key, I put the spare key in the room. Then I let her find it. I needed this charade because I didn’t want to be suspected by her.

 That key was not a special key. Making spare keys was easy and economical. I made 10 spare keys.

 A few days ago, I checked the unlocking company on the internet. They are offering a more affordable price now. They can unlock a lock for only $40. If I were living with my mother now, I could say to her, “Please lose your keys as much as you want.”

Picture by drawlab19