I’m Seina. My husband, Kippei, and I are raising our two elementary schoolers, Daigo and Ran. My sister Sana and her family live about a 30-minute drive away. Sana has always been frail, and for the past few years, she’s been in and out of the hospital. She has two daughters—Aoi, who’s in 7th grade, and Karin, who’s in 5th. They’re sweet girls who always jump right in to play with my kids whenever we visit. While Sana was hospitalized, I’d often have my nieces over to stay at my place, especially when her husband Rintaro had to work late… but then this happened.
I get why my sister is spiraling. Between the shock of her husband leaving her for another woman and the sheer terror of what comes next, she’s completely overwhelmed. The cold, hard truth is that with her health the way it is—constantly in and out of the hospital—it’s nearly impossible for her to raise the girls on her own right now. There’s a mountain of issues to figure out, starting with how she’s even going to pay the bills. Of course, I want to protect my nieces. I really do. But I have my own family to think about, too. This is a massive responsibility, and I just couldn’t give her an answer on the spot.