So my beloved gramma is 94. She's our matriarch of the family. The oldest and still sane as a Katana. I think I'm moving to Tokyo to live with her for a while to spend some time with her....what do you guys think? Should I move to Tokyo?

She's got this house like in between two skyscrapers in the middle of Tokyo...like some comic book image...

Go for it ! When was the last time you lived there ?

"You only lose what you cling to" - Gautama Siddharta

15 years ago I had an apartment there....

Well you wouldn't want to live with regret, would you? When my paternal grandmother was dying, I avoided being with her and going to the hospital to visit her. She raised me just as much as my parents did, and actually many of those little moments that just stick out at me forever are memories of her. I was 13 when she was dying and I said I was afraid of hospitals so I didn't go with my dad to see her. I wasn't afraid of hospitals, I was afraid of seeing her cut down. I totally reversed my stance in later years, and was the primary caregiver for both my grandfathers as they were dying, and although that was much harder on me, I made the right choice. Your situation is not the same as mine was, because it doesn't sound like she's sick or anything, but I am all for spending time with elders. Go for it and send us news from Tokyo!

Nice words.Thanks...I'm leaning heavy towards going.....I probably already was before the post....just wanted to smack my subconscious around....

Sounds good to me! One has only so much time for the elder left, use it.

Paloma and lady fate

You "guys" are so right ! There shold be no regret and life is too short. My dad pasted alway in 1999, I always felt that I could be there just a little more. When in doubt, always visit !

Magohare, Have fun in Japan !

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I love the fact your granny's got a house wedged in between skyscrapers... I would love to know the story behind that...

don't pass up the opportunity...

Only STUPID and IGNORANT people find me offensive!

i remember in March, a couple of years ago, my dad called me because my grandma was rushed to the hospital with a stroke. fortunately my aunt lived with her, so she knew it when it happened, and they did a procedure on her that was able to break up the clot very rapidly. she spent a couple of months in rehab, and i visited her daily. i never had visited her that much before - maybe once a month for those wonderful homemade meatballs and pasta.

her countenance was good, and she had a great sense of humor. at first, the whole family reacted to her mild dementia with the same humor. but after months of her confusion growing, it wasn't really able to be taken lightly anymore.

still, she was a fantasic judge of people, and she began telling me things she felt about people she'd met and why. i gained great insight from her memories of my past boyfriends, and people her other children had married or loved.

my aunt who lived with her was mentally handicapped, so my dad and i became caretakers of two people, working shifts and trying to keep their minds active, while keeping up with doctor appointments and our own lives. it was extremely draining.

but i would not trade it for the world. i would sit with my grandma and ask her to recount the events of her life. she has such wonderful epithets and it really didn't matter which were completely accurate. once she referred to a guy my aunt dated as boring:

"He had as much personality as yesterday's baked potato."

in November i ran over to her house because she had severe back pain.