A strange sort of connection, interactions on LINE, that allowed the writer to be "on the inside" of another's family…translated…
I Read the Messages, Looked at the Photos, Like This is My Way of Interacting with, Family……….
There's no younger generations being born, the group of her family, with the two generations, and that day, like how the hitter got on base, with someone, coming in.
At the time, I'd not purchased a parking spot, as the need surfaced up, I'd found, how hard it was, finding a space to park in the city where every slot is, gold. To get that needed parking spot every time I got home, every time I'd set foot into the apartment complex, I'd, ridden to the basement, walked around three times, to check if there are, any parking spots available, then, went back home, and, tried my best to contact the owner of that parking spot before s/he posted the parking spot available ads. There were, a few cars that attracted my, attention, a silver sedan that's often, slouched in the parking garage, with the dusts, covering up the car, seemed like nobody ever, drives, it; another white sedan, is already, elderly, I'd heard that the owner takes the graveyard shift, and lives upstairs from me; the owner of the blue car lives in the apartment on the top floor, with three dogs, and every time she goes out, the dogs would start getting rowdy.
I'd driven around the parking garage many times on end, and didn't see the old white sedan, I'd seen the owner pushing her elderly mother on a wheelchair, strolling on the sidewalk outside, and gone to ring her doorbell, asked if she was willing to rent out her parking spot to me? She'd thought for a short while, picked up her phone, and, turned on the bar code had me add myself to her Group. She'd told me, "three months rent a time, pay to my mother."
illustration from UDN.com
"Every time you'd paid, take the shot of the ATM transfer screen, send it to the group", and just like that, I got my parking spot, and became, a member of the, group.
The alert started sounding off, she'd, sent me the photos, of me, the dozens of them, me talking, me handing the money to her mother…………followed by the messages I can't, understand, perhaps, it was her, telling her families, she'd rented out the parking spot.
At first, when the messages popped up, I'd read and immediately sent a sticker back to her. Slowly, I'd found, she was the only one active in the group, her words were hollow and hard to, understand; she'd often resent the videos, then, edited and kept in the notebook. Until one day as her mother was sent to the E.R., then, the rest of the members of the group started, waking, up, and started, making the, "noises". I'd read the messages and photos she'd posted, like I'd belonged to, her, family too.
That day, the picture of her mother on the hospital bed, with the drip was posted, I'd, immediately posted my get better soon message, but nobody responded. I'd, observed for a couple of, days, and I'd become certain, that it was her eldest daughter-in-law who was documenting her mother's conditions, posting the photos of her mother's meals and before bedtime, and the information of how her mother is, being, discharged from the hospital, but nobody ever, responded. I'd click on the personal profile of her eldest sister-in-law, she looked, helpless.
To keep that parking spot, I couldn't, get out of the group, and I'd, hidden myself in the group, not made another, sound, but still read every single message that was posted, the ones that no one ever, responded, back, to.
On that day, I bumped into her mother in the elevators, greeted her, "Aunty, you're so brave. I saw you in physical therapy, practicing to walk.", the woman pushing the wheelchair asked me how? It was awkward, and I'd, responded, "I…I…I belong to your family's group on LINE." "Sister-in-law, I recognize you from your icon, and I empathize with your hardships."
And so, this is, an unexpected "gain:" of family, as this woman became a part of someone's group, and, the woman felt intimately connected to the primary caretaker, which is the eldest sister-in-law of the woman who's parking space she'd rented, and, she'd become, a part of the family, noting the ins and outs of the hospitalization of the woman's mother, and she'd empathized with the sister-in-law's putting in all her time, all her energies in caring for the mother of the person who'd rented out the parking spot to her.
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