Bachan

Bachan is my brother-in-law Steve's Grandmother. She lives about half a mile from me and I feel so lucky to have her as my friend. She is 89 years old. She is smart, totally with it and healthy. I really enjoy spending time with her. Today after school I took my kids over to visit her. We spent some time talking about some of the figurines she has in her house and then we decided to go to an early dinner. She directed me to a really good noodle restaurant. The menu was mostly in Japanese but she helped me order what I would like. I learned that her favorite color is plum and she talked a lot about her family and raising her boys. She also talked a lot about her great grandchildren and she knew a lot about all of them. She gave me some great advice that I am going to try. When her boys were little she would have them play alone outside or wherever they wanted until lunch time. During this time she would prepare dinner, do chores, run errands. At lunch time they would bathe then eat and then nap. After their nap until her husband got home at 4:00 pm she would play with them. That's all. No laundry, errands or dishes. Just play. I like the idea and so next week I am going to try it.


After dinner we went a few doors down and went shopping in a little Japanese grocery store. I got Miso (next week Bachan is teaching me how to make Miso soup) and some Japanese noodles she told me were good.

Hanging out with Bachan makes me miss my own Grandma. In a lot of ways Bachan and my Grandma are very similar. They both dress very nice and have their hair styled. They both know a lot about their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. They both laugh easily. I sure wish I lived near my

Grandma but I'm so glad to live near Bachan.