Day 19— My Little Angel
Christmas and New Year are almost here! What are you going to do this season? You might spend time with your family, friends, or lovers. If not, you would think about your loved ones and be thankful for them.
Today, I’d like to share about my precious person, “little angel”.
The Letter
At the beginning of this month, I received a letter which brought me back fond memories. It was from my previous part-time job. My previous job might be a little unique: caregiving. When I received the letter, I thought, “It might be fun to write about caregiving for the advent calendar.” So, I’ve decided to share it with you.
“What is caregiving?”
“Are you interested in caregiving?” My best friend asked me when I was in my 2nd year at University. Although I didn’t have any experience taking care of elderly people who had physical disabilities, I decided to take the job. At that time, I had no idea the job would give me so many surprises in my life.
Surprises
It was the first day of my job. I went to a patient’s house. Her name was Yuko-san. She couldn’t move her body, barely spoke, and used a wheelchair, but she welcomed me with a warm smile and said, “Hi, would you like some tea?” I thought, “She is like a little angel!”
Before I met her, I’d thought that elderly people who need help might stay at home quietly all day, or that they would need assistance whenever they wanted to do something.
But, I was totally wrong. She surprised me a lot from my first day of work!
“Have you climbed Mt.Fuji? If not, you should try it! The view was amazing!”
“I’ve been to Hawaii, Europe, and Sweden, would you like to see the pictures?”
“The founder of this organization is actually me. Hahaha”
My image of disabled people was totally turned over.
Yuko-san was also talented in writing poems, was open to taking on new challenges, and moreover, she had the courage to speak up when she faced social issues.
Night Shift
As a caregiver, I went shopping with her, cooked for her, helped her bathe, and even helped her use an artificial respirator.
One day, I had a night shift and stayed at her house. At that time, she had been sick and wasn’t feeling so good. Sometimes she would scream, “Help me” in the middle of the night.
I didn’t know what to do, but suddenly, I thought of a good idea.
I had brought my ukulele that day, so I sang a song for her to make her feel relaxed.
Listening to my song, she seemed to gradually feel better, and she fell asleep shortly after.
The next morning, Yuko-san said “Thank you for last night. Recently I felt lonely especially in the evening, but I was able to sleep well last night.”
That was the moment I felt the significance of supporting one another.
Thank you Yuko-san
Yuko-san passed away in September this year. Because of the COVID-19 situation, her funeral was held remotely, which was very sad since I couldn’t say goodbye to her in person.
But Yuko-san changed my attitude toward life, and she taught me something important.
I will spend this Christmas thinking of Yuko-san and all that she has taught me. I hope everyone can also take this time to stop and think about their loved ones as well. Merry Christmas!
This article is part of the HENNGE Advent Calendar 2020. An Advent calendar is a special calendar used for counting down the days till Christmas. HENNGE Advent Calendar 2020 presents one article by one HENNGE member per day for 25 days until Christmas, 2020.
