Saimin Surprise!

We'd taken mom to get a blood and TB test at Kaiser a week ago. After having quite a few vials of blood taken, we thought we should give mom a treat and take her to our local Zippy's restaurant to get a bowl of her favorite saimin noodles. I don't think we've been there in a year. Maybe.

We also ordered an extra serving of char siu, fish cakes and vegetables to add to the soup for each of us.

Although we ordered the small size, we were surprised to see how much food there was. Mom told us it was too much for her so we reassured her that she didn't have to eat all of it. 

I then texted a photo of her with her saimin noodles to my brother, Dennis. I keep him constantly updated on everything we do with her since he lives rather far away from us and is only in our area when he comes to visit her several times a week.

Imagine our shock when he suddenly showed up and sat next to her! 

Apparently he never comes here because Dennis and my sister in law go to a Zippy's closer to their home. However, they just happened to be in this area because my sister in law was picking up something at a store near this Zippy's and they decided to just grab some take out lunch to bring home. Standing in line for their order he got my text photo and decided to check where we might be and surprise us.

Mom has dementia. When he suddenly appeared, it wasn't that much of a shock since she does periodically see him. So she calmly accepted that he was just there.

And her bowl of saimin noodles?

Uuuummmm.... she finished it all and proceeded to try to drink up most of the broth. 

I then showed her the photo I took of her and Dennis. 

She was shocked! She had completely forgotten that he'd stopped by to say hello.

I had to have Art finish my noodles. It was too much for me. 

Art paid for the meals and we headed home.

Upon arriving home, I assumed that she would have forgotten where we'd been and that she'd had a huge bowl of her favorite saimin noodles.

Imagine my surprise when she turned smiling to Art before going into the house and saying, "Thank you very much for taking me everywhere and getting me the saimin noodles."

This all reminded me of the family mottos that my Buddhist priest grandfather had instilled in his children.

My aunt, Chikako was telling me what the family motto was. Those are her words on the left.

My mother is Hiroko. 

My aunt Machiko is remembering the letter my grandfather gave my grandmother before being drafted into the war.

The amazing thing is that even with dementia, my mother's Japanese handwriting is incredibly beautiful. She is always careful to not waste anything, always humble and to this day is always grateful.