With Mom in Taipei Botanical Garden

This afternoon, beautiful weather, I took my mom to Taipei Botanical Garden. It is usually not an easy job to invite my mom out. She is always declining. However, my persistence often prevails eventually.

I love to take Mom around, though she often says she prefers staying home watching TV or reading newspapers and that she hasn't gotten used to hang out with friends since she married my father. Mom doesn't have many friends. Sometimes I wish she were more outgoing, enjoying her life with her friends, so that I wouldn't need to worry about her feeling lonely. However, another voice often emerges from the bottom of my heart: "It was because your mom spent all her youth taking care of a family of nine that she didn't have time to make friends. Be her best friend." Yes, I'm not only my mom's daughter but her best friend.



 



Behind us is a Japanese house.



We encountered a retired professor from Japan. His thick white eyebrows caught my mom's eye and we started a conversation. We talked in English and then I translated our chat into Chinese for my mom. The professor, aged 80, said he was born and raised in Taiwan before going to Japan. The botanical garden used to be his playground. I was wondering whether he regards Taiwan or Japan as his hometown, but I didn't ask.



While these photography enthusiasts were waiting for a good shot, I took a picture of them.