I’m Maya. My “fave” in the world is my nephew, Ruki! He always greets me with a huge smile and says, “Maya, let’s play!” so I make a point to visit him about once a month. Since starting elementary school, he’s even been trying his best to stay up until around 11 p.m. for me. Watching him rub his sleepy eyes just to spend extra time with me is honestly the cutest thing ever. My brother and his wife, Hozumi, always seemed happy to have me over, too. But then one day, my brother gave me an unexpected phone call…?
I got so caught up in enjoying my time with Ruki that I totally lost sight of everything else. I kept thinking, “He’s in first grade now,” and let him stay up late, but the reality is he’s still only a first grader. As the adult, I should have known better.
My brother asked me to shorten my visits and leave early in the evening instead of staying late. I must have been barging into their family’s routine without a second thought. Learning that my frequent visits were wearing them out made me decide to hold off on going over for a while.
Realizing how oblivious I was has been a real wake-up call, and I feel terrible about it. I feel a bit lonely, but I’m trying to see it as a lesson in learning to keep a healthy distance as an aunt.
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