Nothing tastes as good as a home-cooked meal.

The other night, Japanese Twitter user Hamigaki (@___1_9_9_) had a dream about her grandfather. He wasn’t doing anything fantastical, like flying through the sky or shooting lasers. He was just eating a bowl of udon noodles.

It was a pretty mundane dream, except that Hamigaki’s grandpa passed away some time ago. He doesn’t show up in her dreams all that often, either, so this was sort of a special occasion, even though he hadn’t done anything particularly special, and after Hamigaki woke up she wanted to tell her mom about it.

So the adult daughter grabbed her phone, called her mom, and told her about her dream the night before where Grandpa was eating udon, to which Mom replied:

“Yesterday I put a bowl of udon on the butsudan.”

A butsudan is a cabinet-like altar found in Japanese homes. While they have a statue or image of Buddha inside, they’re primarily considered a shrine to the spirit of the family’s ancestors, sometimes with photos of them inside as well. The family not only offers prayers and incense at the butsudan, but in accordance with Japanese faith traditions, also often puts out offerings of food.

▼ A butsudan inside a Japanese home’s living room

What makes Hamigaki’s story especially surprising, though, is that the food families offer to their ancestors on the butsudan are most typically things like white rice, fruit, or small cakes or candies. Udon noodles are a pretty unique offering, and Hamigaki’s grandfather showing up in her dream on the exact day her mom (his daughter) made udon for him starts to feel like some deeply significant timing.

“Hahaha he really did eat it,” tweeted Hamigaki, and other Twitter users were also impressed by Grandpa unexpectedly stopping by for dinner in her dreams:

“That’s one seriously effective butsudan your mom has.”
“Welcome back, Grandpa!”
“It must have tasted really good!”
“I bet he was really happy, and wanted you to tell your mom for him.”

Some might argue it was all just a coincidence, but it shows that the people we love are never really gone, nor is their love for us, and just maybe their love of home-cooked noodles is eternal too.

Source: Twitter/@ ___1_9_9_0 via Hachima Kiko
Photos ©SoraNews24
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