My mother-in-law wanted to buy a sofa, so I drove her to Nitori to help her shop.

She was in a good mood after buying a sofa she liked (although it took a month to arrive),

one day she called me and said, "I'll give you some money, so come over."

Money?

My mother-in-law had previously made me the beneficiary of a 2 million yen insurance payout she would receive when she died,

so when I said, "I don't need the money anymore," she said,

"It's not a big deal, maybe just 10,000 yen."

What? Why? Pocket money?

I went there curious, and this is the money my mother-in-law gave me.

Old 10,000 yen and 5,000 yen bills.

She said, "You can use them right away," but I think it would be better to keep them.

They'll be replaced with new bills again, so won't they be worth more than 15,000 yen?

That day, I thought it would be bad to go to my mother-in-law's house empty-handed, so I bought some flowers to offer at my father-in-law's Buddhist altar.

During this season, fresh flowers wilt one after another, so I went to a florist to buy lilies that would last a little longer.

When I bought a lily with many buds, I found a huge sunflower nearby.

It was the biggest sunflower I've ever seen. ????

When I asked the price, I was told it was 800 yen each.

"You can also dry them. You can get seeds, and many people want these sunflower seeds, but they seem to be hard to get."

I want them!!

I bought one each for my mother-in-law, my eldest daughter, and myself.

They were just so big.

After giving them to my mother-in-law, I took the remaining two home and tried to display them in a large, heavy vase so they wouldn't fall over, but they fell over very quickly.

I cut the long, thick stems with a knife to shorten them and displayed them again, but they fell over the second time.

If you line up the flowers, the weight will be in the same direction, so if you arrange them in a balanced way, it will be fine.

This makes it hard to tell how big they are.

I put a Baccarat glass and some edamame beans next to them.

It's bigger than the platter of edamame beans.

It's scary, like some kind of monster.

These flowers are still beautiful.

In fact, it was difficult to bring them home.

The petals and pollen got all torn apart.

The next day, I went to my eldest daughter's house and gave her one.

She cut the stem shorter and displayed it, but it fell over and the vase broke.

My daughter said it was in a bucket at her house.

My mother-in-law has a heavier vase, so it seems fine.