Sunday, July 16, 2006

• My Wife's Son's Son's Grand Father

  With the arrival of two kids on Wednesday, I have been pretty busy. I hate to sound selfish, but I feel sort of trapped in my house now. I find myself holed up in my own room, trying to focus on some of the stuff I have to read, but I am getting nowhere... You see, accompanying my grandson, Kentaro, from Japan was not only his classmate, Kintaro, but his grandfather--his other grandfather. Yes... my In-Law.

  Not that he's a bad sort. Indeed, he is polite and understanding and uncomplaining. He's also 72 years old. I am, admittedly, no spring chicken. Perhaps, from your point of view, those of us over fifty are all the same. But from my vantage point, he is twenty-two years my senior. He is from my mother's generation. Again, there is nothing intrinsically bad or wrong with this. But suddenly living with a person you have met for the first time 24/7... well, it can be stressful. And the Japanese thing makes it all the more difficult. The age difference demands that I show sufficient respect, which means I not only have to worry about the little things--like who sits where, who showers first, whose cup is filled with beer--I must also use polite speech when I am in front of him, and this in itself is quite stressful.

  Exacerbating the situation--from my point of view--is the fact that he is the former president of Hewlett-Packard Osaka, and so is accustomed to a high level of formality and courtesy accorded to him, and so I have to maintain a sense of decorum that I rarely--if ever--manifest in my own home.

  *sigh*

  As I said, he is a very nice gentleman, and I feel really selfish in thinking this way. But the thought that this will be my life for the next few weeks, urges me to hide behind closed doors in my own room. And when I venture outside for my meals, I just sit politely for hours (literally) as he shares his many experiences and opinions after dinner. And I smile and nod, secretly wondering when he'll be ready to retire to his room, regretting that perhaps I should have taught summer school... and lamenting over the J-dorama I am missing. :(

  • 8:08 AM
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