A red neon sign reading 'Mono no aware' on a dark wood wall above an empty restaurant table.
My 98-year-old Oma has been in the hospital for over a week, and she's been on my mind a lot. At a Japanese restaurant in Charleston, I asked ChatGPT to translate this sign. The characters spell 'Mono no aware', a Japanese phrase for the gentle sadness of impermanence. It felt unexpectedly fitting.