I live with my husband, just the two of us. Our son Tatsuya and our daughter Haruna both have families of their own now and live independently. Tatsuya lives with his wife, Nanami, and their son, Riku. Nanami is a very devoted mom. Sometimes watching her makes me a little nervous, but I’ve tried to stay quiet and simply support her from the sidelines. Haruna, on the other hand, has always had a free spirit. Seeing how happily she lives her life has taught me, as a parent, that there are many ways to live well.
When we heard that Riku had stopped going to school, we wondered if there was anything we could do to help, even just a little. Then, at Riku’s request, we decided to have him stay at our house three days a week.
Little by little, I began to understand why he couldn’t go to school. He probably couldn’t keep up with what his classmates were talking about at all. And on top of that, he was forbidden by his mother from getting that information, which may have made everything feel joyless to him. That feeling of “nothing is fun” might have been what stopped his feet from carrying him to school.
Even so, Riku never said a single word that blamed Nanami. He is truly a kind boy. Not knowing what the right thing to do for him was, we could only look at each other and worry in silence.