First of all, I thank Sayaka for such a touching story about her grandfather. Related to her post, I'm gonna talk about my grandmother here.
My grandmother lives in Akita, which has lots of nature. As you guys have already known, it's located in the contryside of Japan. There're espacially lots of nature, fields, and farms around the place where she lives, whose air is absolutely fresh and whose water is absolutely clean. We can even see beautiful stars in the sky at night. I, too, once lived in Akita as well, and my house was not that far from hers, so I would often visit it when I was little.
My grandmother is the strongest woman of all for me.
She is a farmer who has a heavy heart disease. She has been forced not to excise since her childhood because of the disease. In addition, my mother told me that my grandmother had received a 7-hour-long heart operation about 14 years ago. I guess I was around 4 years old and knew nothing about it at that time. I still remember how surprised I was when I was told the fact by my mother for the first time.
Her heavy disease notwithstanding, she works as a farmer in vast farms every day. She has about 4 vast farms and a garden, and grows heaps of vegetables and flowers there. My grandfather helps her with farm working from time to time but it's not that common, so she works as a farmer almost all by herself. Her morning starts at around 4:00 a.m. She starts to harvest her vegetables from early in the morning, and works until it gets dark at night. Then, after she goes back to her house, she starts packing to ship them in the nearby supermarket. She continues to work almost all day long on both hot days and cold days -- it's hard for me to imagine such a severe life.
I would help her with farm working during summer vacation when I was in Akita. I harvested some summer vegetables like egg plants, tomatos, and cucumbers. It was then that I first realized how hard farm working was and what a great work she were doing. My concentration lasted for at most one hour, and I quickly felt exhausted because of the heat in summer. And one day I asked her, "Why do you work so hard?" Then she replied, "Because there're people who are waiting for my vegetables." I still remember her words and I'll never forget them. I learned how wonderful it was to work for others from her.
Her vegetables contain lots of love, so they're so delicious. I was glad to hear that some people who bought them telephoned her to tell that her vegetables were really good. Even after I moved to Tokyo, she sometimes sends me her vegetables and other food from Akita. Now, I really think that I am such a happy person as I was born as one of her grandchildren. I'll definitely go back to my hometown Akita, and help her with farm working during summer vacation. I can't wait until it comes! I really want her to live long and enjoy her life.
Thanks for reading.
