This blog, as you know, is about more than just my bags. It is about my thoughts and my journey as I realize my dreams. It is about my successes and even my failures. It is about me and my family.
My family has been fortunate in many ways. For the most part, we've been healthy and when most of my grandparents have died, it has been after a full life while into their 80's. I've even had relatives live nearly 100 years! Friday, I felt that my luck ran out. My dad went into an outpatient clinic for a procedure to find out why he has been having difficulty swallowing. With the time difference, with the time it took me to wake up and check my email, my dad had been diagnosed with a 4cm squamous cell esophageal carcinoma. I know my mom well enough to read between the lines of her cryptic email. "Hi honey, the procedure didn't take long...call me when you can so I can try to explain what the doctor found". You see, I know that my mom doesn't believe in delivering bad news via email or voice mail. So when she said to call, I already knew that it wasn't good.
I am thankful that they live in an area that has excellant doctors. I am grateful that they have loyal friends. But I feel so very far away right now.
There have been times in my life when I put my job ahead of everything else. I needed the money so badly that I feared losing my job if I put family first. I won't do that again. I am older and wiser.
My mom told me that she felt like the world as she knew it changed in the instant she heard that her husband of 53 years, has cancer. I understand to some extent. I must remind myself to breathe deeply, as I keep finding myself taking in short rapid breathes of air. This is my dad!
I know enough about his type of cancer to know that the next few months are going to be the hardest days of his life. My dad has never 'done' hospitals. He doesn't even like the smell of hospitals.
So today, my bags are packed and I am headed out to be with my mom and dad. I have wrapped up most of my larger pending orders here and notified other customers that their order will take longer than I initially expected. EVERYONE has been so supportive.
My "Menehune Man" is helping me so much. I even left instructions for him on how to ship one of my large orders. He will be popping a couple hundred packages of Kleenex into silk tissue totes for me, then boxing them all up and shipping them out! Have I ever told you what a special man I am married to?
I still have much to do this morning before flying out so I had better get to it. Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers.
a hui hou
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