My sister was very strong-willed, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to convince her to stay—not that I wanted to. As much as I wanted her to not be on the other side of the world, I wanted her to have the life she wanted and to live it in peace. If she couldn’t find that peace with us, we needed to be okay with that. But it would take a while for that to happen, so I grabbed my skates and lapped around the rink behind our house in attempts at processing the bomb she dropped on me.
Mama went to the community center that day, so I skated until just before her arrival. My emotions were all over the place. My yoga plans excited me, and I was revving to get started. Then of course, there was the sadness about my sister leaving, pride, and all the other stuff I dealt with on the daily. I probably should have given Mama a minute to catch her breath, but I pounced on her as soon as she walked in.
The big question I had was about budgeting. I knew from watching her run the candle business that it took money to make money. She was pretty well off to begin with, and she may not have needed to be as careful as she was. But she always planned for the future and did things like grow soy beans to make her own wax and offset costs. If anyone could advise me about budgeting, it’d be her. I needed more yoga mats to run my classes, but I didn’t have any money of my own. Everything I spent was hers. While that benefitted me for the time, I wanted to operate as if I used my own funds. How did one figure out how much to spend? How did I price my classes? What did a budget look like?
She told me all about operating costs. That included everything I needed to spend money on before profit. Renting a space would increase my costs, which is why she suggested I started in the yard. Still, it’s something I needed to consider in my pricing if that was something I wanted to work toward. Not only that, but my cost of living (when I move out), spending money, and any savings goals I had. All of those things factored into pricing. Luckily, yoga mats were a one-time purchase, so I really could charge whatever I wanted and pocket everything. I’d never consider overcharging for the sake of making lots of money, but she still warned against price gouging. Just because I could charge a lot didn’t mean I should. Not only would that be wrong, but also she told me to think about how my offering was different from what they could get at a familiar place like the gym. Why should anyone pay money to do yoga at some rando dude’s house, especially when they didn’t know if I was even qualified to teach and if I’d be worth the money? That was excellent advice I hadn’t considered, and again I thanked her for enlightening me.
“Oh good, you’re here,” Alessia said, interrupting us. “I’m moving to Mt. Komorebi tomorrow.”
“…I’m sorry, WHAT?” Mama shouted.
“I’m going and you won’t stop me!”
Less sounded so childish. How could she not see how rash this looked to us? If I made an announcement like that, she’d hit the ceiling.
“When did you decide all this?” Mama asked. “What’s this about?”
“I’m not happy here! I was happy when I was there, and I want to go back!”
“Oh, no,” Mama said. “This is all my fault. I’m sorry, baby. Is there anything I can change to make you happier?”
“Everything isn’t always about you, Mom! I need to pack.”
Later, Less came back downstairs, presumably all packed and ready to go. I didn’t feel good about how she stormed away, confusing Mama and possibly hurting her feelings, so I explained the situation calmly.
“Less…no one is trying to make you stay. We just want to understand better. If I told you I was leaving suddenly, you’d feel some kind of way, right?”
“Yeah…I guess,” she said after a beat of hesitation.
“We have no idea where you’re going, where you’re staying, or how long you’ll be there, and you expect us to be okay with this?”
“Okay…you’re right.”
Finally, she got it. Soon it would be dinnertime, so we set the table while Mama whipped up something quickly. Less told us about her plans, and we managed a decent, drama-free dinner. She’d be living in Senbamachi with a family. That alone made me feel more at ease; I’m sure Mama was relieved as well. An elderly couple had a small child and needed help with housekeeping and occasionally caring for the child. She could live in their house for free in exchange for help. Neither of us did well in school, but we’re not dumb. I couldn’t picture Less taking care of anyone’s child, but even she recognized she shouldn’t pass up that deal. When she learned the child’s name was Alessandra, she felt like it was fate and made the arrangements with the family immediately. I couldn’t say I’d make a life-changing decision based on a simple coincidence like that, but it was pretty cool, I guess. After getting all our questions answered, Mama appeared to be more comfortable and less upset. Only time would tell how this all worked out.
