Walking alongside my elderly neighbor

I was high in a tree in front of my house trimming branches to stop them rubbing on the power line. I looked down at the street, which was littered with the fallen branches, and saw a kimono-clad woman. I called down to her, “Excuse me!” Satō-san looked up at me in great surprise and concern for my safety. Assuring her that I had grown up farming and logging, I said, “Would you mind pulling those branches to the side of the street so they won’t obstruct traffic?” She kindly did as I asked.

Some of you may remember my writing about Satō-san in the Autumn 2015 issue of Japan Harvest (https://japanharvest.org/the-silver-harvest), and I wanted to tell you more about our growing and life-giving relationship. By our next encounter, I had moved diagonally across the street and was weeding in my yard when Satō-san came walking by, as always, in a kimono. When I mentioned the neighborhood children’s parties I had been holding, her eyes lit up. At 82, she was still serving as a school crossing guard and was a favorite with the elementary school children. At first, it didn’t look as though the parties would fit her busy schedule, as she was singing in two choruses and taking shamisen lessons. However, we did enjoy several years of fun with the kids at Christmas, Easter, and later Pentecost on an annual basis.

Our next adventure was the White Chrysanthemum Association, which I joined to donate my body to science. When she heard that I had attended the annual regional meeting, held at the nearest participating teaching medical university where students learn anatomy by dissection, she thought that attending the meetings would be a fun thing to do together. In hearty agreement, I mentored her in the application process, which requires providing written approval by family members for the applicant’s full-body donation.

Although I had readily received my siblings’ approval, Satō-san ran into a snag when her children were shocked that she would consider leaving the Buddhist system of cremation and subsequent payments to the local temple. Their refusal was devastating to Satō-san, so we spent some time at my house processing her disappointment. I was saddened to see the grip that the Buddhist system has on people but am still prayerfully watching for an open door. At the time, I tried to encourage her with the reminder that I could not apply when I first wanted to either because the association had all the applicants the university could handle and was not accepting more. Years later, I happened across the business card of a professor who helped me confirm that applications had reopened. I hadn’t realized that the White Chrysanthemum had any spiritual connections, so I was amazed at the joint funeral service for those who had passed in the previous year to hear a string ensemble play “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” by J.S. Bach and to hear Jesus’s assurance in my heart, “I am near to the brokenhearted” (author paraphrase from Ps. 34:18, cf. Is. 61:1; Luke 4:18).

Birthdays have been a continuing opportunity to enjoy time with Satō-san. For her 89th birthday this year, I cooked takenoko gohan (bamboo shoot rice), chawan mushi (steamed custard), and miso shiru (miso soup) for her and a new US neighbor family of mixed race. It was a delight to observe international citizen Satō-san conversing with the children in their brand-new Japanese!

This year, my most recent adventure with Satō-san has been to witness the one-night blooming of 10 of my 11 heavenly-scented white Cereus cactus flowers. We had some wonderful nocturnal visits, even sitting on my front step chatting one full-moonlit night, just as my mother and I did when I was a child. Satō-san’s health has suffered in the past few years—in part from her many walks up and down our steep street, which she reports have worn away most of the cartilage from her knee joints. She missed the Cereus’s last bloom of the year, but as a consolation prize, I printed out photos for her.

So far she has shied away from Bible study, except for reading the Christmas and Easter stories to neighborhood children, but throughout our seven-year friendship Satō-san has enjoyed attending Christian concerts with me. Remembering her attendance at a Christian school as a child, she often rides home with me humming “Amazing Grace.” At the time of writing in late 2022, we are looking forward to attending a Christmas concert in early December. Walking beside Satō-san has been a privilege and a joy, from the day I saw her on the street below, to yesterday, when I passed her and another neighbor in my car. By God’s mercy and grace, I look forward to walking with her in heaven!

Photo submitted by author