My mom left this morning for a 10 am back to Shanghai. Before she left, my dad asked her when she's coming back to Taipei. He asked her, "Who's going to make sure that I'm OK while you're gone?"
Ironically, for the past few days that I've been here, he's been silently grumbling about how me and my mom have been telling him what he can and cannot eat, when to take his meds and if he's feeling OK. This was most apparent when my mom would ask him. He'd kind of get this annoyed look on his face and agree in a kind of passive-aggressive way. Passive-aggressive isn't my dad's standard operating procedure. In fact, he will tell you to your face if he's upset and then some.
So when my dad said this to my mom, she was pleasantly surprised. Even I was. He rarely showed that he cared, and here he was showing him that he appreciated her. She replied happily, "Well, if you say it like that, then I won't go!" And she giggled.
My mom left a few minutes later. She took the airport bus. The stop was located right across the street from our hotel. I walked with her across the street; at 7 am, there was a slight drizzle. She reminded me to have my dad eat his meds on time and make sure that he drink plenty of water. The painkiller that he's on - Tramal Retard (I know it sounds ridiculous) - is known to have dry-mouth and constipation as one of the side-effects. Being the mom that she is, she told me that she'll be back soon. I told her not to worry, that me and dad will both be getting drugged out together.
The bus came and approached the curb. The luggage compartment doors, located on the sides of the bus' belly, opened up remotely. I slipped her luggage in, we hugged and she boarded the bus.
I had dinner with my aunt last night and she said that these past few weeks have been so hard on my mom. Indeed, I was worried back in Shanghai. She was a wreck. And I wanted my sister to accompany them to Taipei, but my dad, ever the pessimist, insisted that she stay in Shanghai and take care of some business in case he was going to die soon. Well, that left my mom all alone to take care of his stubborn ass.
Well, after breakfast, my dad and I went up to the receptionist to ask to switch from a King-sized bed room to one with two twin beds. The room we were in could accomodate 3 with an additional cot. They gave us a reduced rate, but not what my dad was thinking of. After sounding off his disappointment, he reluctantly agreed, and they gave us the keys to the new room so that we could move our stuff. It was easy move, as the twin room was right next door. I noticed that the room stunk like cigarette smoke. At first, I thought that this was just slight. But as I was moving in and out of the room, I couldn't help but think that some mainlanders stayed here and left this room just smelling rank. I told my dad, and he said he didn't care. I tried to pass it off, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep. So I told him that I would go downstairs and get us a new room.
After informing her of the smell, the receptionist immediately gave us another room on the floor - an upgrade, she said, to a triple. When I went up to see it, it was bigger than the twin room and had a full size and a twin size bed. Feeling especially proud of myself, I went to tell my dad, but he didn't seem too pleased. Again, we moved our stuff to this new room.
When we were done, we set out for our morning walk. My dad said he wanted to check out this other hotel. So we left and long story short, me and my dad got in a fight. The hotel we went to check out was nicer, but their twin-bed room was smaller. He asked me how it was, and I told him that the hotel was nice but the neighborhood was really noisy. He got all pissed off, saying how it was a really expensive neighborhood. I told him that I wasn't disagreeing with him, that all I was saying was that he'd have more peaceful walks at the other place. Then he went on about how he's the one suffering and I don't have to live here, etc., etc. So then I got pissed and said he might as well have not asked me since he was going to do what he wanted anyways.
That was the first day without my mom.
