Category: Family

Today was my daughter’s birthday. I could not ask for a better daughter. She’s so kind, thoughtful, and treats others how she wants to be treated. It’s something that I try to do also.

My brother and nephew stopped by last evening, and we celebrated her birthday a day early since they were leaving early this morning. We kept it simple, just how she wanted. There was plenty of laughter last evening, and that’s how my mom would have wanted us to be, sharing beautiful memories of the times past; we celebrated another year of life for my lovely daughter. I pray that she continues to grow and be the same thoughtful and kind daughter that I raised.

Although it’s late (10:40 pm), I plan to stay up with my daughter for a while and perhaps play a video game with her. Tomorrow, I plan to make homemade noodles for her and her favorite chicken soup.

Happy Birthday sweet girl; I love you always.

On mother’s Day, around 12:05 am on May 8, 2002; I received a call from the ICU doctor. He told me that I needed to come into the hospital. My mother was rushed to the ICU ward the day before, and it was not looking good. My daughter and I had just gone to bed after cleaning downstairs. I quickly threw on clothes, and out the door, I went. The hospital was about 15 minutes away, and I made it without issues. Why would I have any? It was early morning, and not too many people were on the road.

Outside of the main entrance, I noticed a woman on the phone talking to someone. She was waiting for me. She was the ICU nurse; the doors were locked; however, she buzzed me inside and quickly followed me to the guard’s desk, where I handed my ID. The nurse told the guard that I did not have time to wait for him and that she would take my visitor’s pass. She explained that I needed to get to my mom. Looking up, I saw a doctor watching us. I figured he was the ICU doctor I’d talked to on Friday evening and twice on Saturday. I stepped into the elevator and was upstairs, where the ICU doctor met me. Yes, he was the same compassionate doctor that had talked to my brother and me. He ushered me into my mother’s room, and I did my best to maintain my composure. My mom was hooked up to tubes and on life support. I instantly called my brother and daughter. My daughter was with my father, so we could all spend time with our mother/wife/grandmom.

The next few hours passed by in a blur. My brother tried to get me to leave to go home and get some rest; however, I refused since I knew this would be the last time I saw her in this world, and I knew she was already gone. The ICU doctor was kind enough to let us share stories and spend time with her one last time. He popped in briefly, saw me laughing, heard the voices on the phone, and said, “This is good; you’re sharing stories with her.” When I was finally ready to leave (knowing she had already passed), the ICU doctor confirmed what I already knew. He asked would I like to see my mother without the tubes, and I told him yes.  The nurses removed the tubes, and I looked at my mom one last time. My mom passed away at the age of 76 years of age. It wasn’t cancer that got her, her tumors had been reduced by 30%, and the blockage was gone. She was released within a few weeks to go into rehab before she came home. What got her was septic shock. So yes… her death came as a massive shock to all who knew her. My mother was a Christian, so she believed that her true life begins after death. A life that never ends and where there is no pain or suffering. As a Christian, I share that belief and know that I will see her again someday. However, that does not take the pain away since I’d love to see her again today.

I wish I could say that I’ve had time to grieve; however, that hasn’t happened yet. Life still goes on. My father is still bedridden, and now, I have to make sure everything is transferred to my father. My mother and dad were terrific stewards, so my father did not have to worry about his care plan. I oversee all his accounts, pay bills, and purchase items needed, just as I started doing shortly before my mother went into the hospital a little over three months ago.

I do hope that I have time to grieve soon. But, most times, it still feels odd that my mother is gone. So, mom, I’ll miss you always; Until we meet again.

Our dog Bella has quite the new look, wouldn’t you say?

I’m unsure what she did to her back paw. First, she started limping and would not stop licking at the infected area. However, now that she has the halo, the paw is starting to heal, and she can place her foot down. Before long, she’ll be walking like usual again.

Let all things be done decently and in order.
1 Corinthians 14:40

I’ve always enjoyed this verse. There are many verses that I enjoy reading and reminding myself of when I go about my days. When life gets stressful, I become more organized than I already am, which makes perfect sense to me since it’s within my control to keep order in my surroundings. For myself, I find it to be another form of therapy. Despite how tumultuous the world may be, there’s a sense of satisfaction just sitting in a clean home. Yes, it requires extra work; however, the rewards are that my house is not disorganized. Disorder, find that adds to my stress. That’s a hard pass for me.

My parents continue to improve, and my brother and I meet with my mother’s doctor next week. We’re hoping that she’ll be home soon. She’s been in the hospital for a month. She’s actually in the best place that she could be. My mother was a nurse at the hospital and well-loved/respected. She has a steady flow of nurses, doctors, and other support staff that come to see her daily. That is not an exaggeration. In anticipation of her return home, my lovely daughter and I will be turning a room into a bedroom. I took today off to relax a bit and get that room in order, with her help. Later today, or this weekend, I’ll be baking. My nephew’s birthday is on Monday, and I want to make sure that I do something nice for that occasion.

My nephew is visiting! I love my nephew, and although things are challenging at the moment, with both of my parents parents being sick. I still look forward to the time I have to spend with him.

I’d known that he’d be staying with us for a few months. I had made so many plans of things that we would do within the three days he was visiting. But, of course, things have drastically changed, and all the plans that I’d had made are out the window since both of my parents are sick. My father is at home; however, he requires round-the-clock care, and since Home Health Aide does not start until this Friday, we won’t be going anywhere. Additionally, until I’m comfortable with their Home Health Aides, I won’t be leaving my parents with them.

Stocking up on Groceries

To stay on top of feeding my soon-to-be 15-year-old nephew, last evening, I placed an order with Amazon Fresh, and it arrived shortly before 8:00 AM. Remembering how much he can eat, I also trip to our local grocery store and purchased additional foods. I have not been to that store in months either, since my daughter and I do the majority of our grocery shopping at a Korean market that is 40 minutes away (one-way from where we live. So while the bags of food shown in the above picture might not seem like a lot to some, it’s a whole lot for my daughter and me. I now think that I have enough to feed my 6′ nephew that towers over my petite 5′ frame, and there should be plenty to carry my daughter, brother, and me into next week. My brother will be back in town and will stay with us to help out until our mother arrives home.

Parent Updates

My parents continue to improve. My father’s therapists were so pleased with his progress that they are looking to get him standing within the next few weeks. His physical therapist was at their home yesterday and raved at the improvements that he’d made. She asked me what I’d been doing. I told her I started pureeing foods for him, which he consumed by straw. HE COULD NOT HOLD THE CUP when I started about two weeks ago. Now he can hold the cup and straw without my assistance and becomes annoyed if I hold them for him. I love the progress. My mother is still in the hospital; however, she is making progress.

I’m now in my room for the evening while he and my daughter spend time laughing and just enjoying each other’s company. Listening to them interact with each other makes me smile. I hung with both of them for several hours.

Despite everything that has happened since October 2021, I still have many reasons to count my blessings and be thankful. I have a lovely daughter and supportive loved ones. Despite their unexpected health complications, both of my parents’ lives were spared. They could have died. I work remotely and have a great job. I’m in good health and can step in and assist with my father’s care within his home. I have a lovely daughter. I have a brother who is supportive and helps when possible. I have many loved ones that make sure we are all well. Thank you, God.

Have you ever heard the expression, “waiting for the other shoe drop?” It means that you are waiting for an event to happen that seems inevitable. With all the unexpected twists and turns that have occurred since October, I’m honestly not surprised with whatever happens. Last Monday, I told my mother that I was taken her to be seen, and I was not taking no for an answer. Since it was unexpected, I took her to Urgent Care. Four hours later, we went from Urgent Care to the Emergency Room. My mother is still in the hospital. She’s continuing to improve and hopefully will be back home, if not this week, the following week.

I’ve taken time off of work to take over the care of my father. My brother has even set up an office (temporarily) at our parent’s home so that he can assist. I must say that it’s very much appreciated that he did that for anyone that has taken care of someone wholly dependent on others for their basic needs. You know what a challenge that can be. The bulk of my father’s care has been done by myself since my mother has been in the hospital. Despite everything that has transpired, I still have a lot to be thankful for. I have a great job, boss, and company that’s willing to work with me. I have a lovely daughter, great brother, parents, and family/friends that have reached out to check on us, let us know they’re praying for us, and drop off food. Food is the one thing I don’t need since I do a lot of meal prep. However, I do take the food given since I know people sometimes want to do SOMETHING to help. It makes them feel as they’ve done something. Why would I take that away from them? I’ve been sharing it with others with the overabundance of food we received. A home-cooked meal is a welcome addition even if a family is not in crisis.

Vita-Mix Immersion Blender

Early this morning, the Vita-Mix Immersion blender was delivered to my doorstep. I already have the Vitamix Professional blender; however, I plan to use the Immersion aka Stick blender for pureeing soups directly in the pot or creating smaller-sized purees.

I’ve been researching a few printers the past week, one for my daughter’s designs and the other for myself. I settled on the printers that I wanted for us both; however, I was having difficulty finding them in the local stores. Searching online for those specific printers yielded the same results. They were out of stock. Additionally, I discovered that some people are capitalizing on this and offering the same printers at much higher prices. No thanks. I’ll wait. Last Thursday, I was able to find the printer I’d chosen for my daughter in stock at a store about an hour away from where we live.

I put the Canon – PIXMA PRO-200 Wireless Inkjet Printer in my shopping cart, intending to purchase it; however, with the assistance I’ve been giving to my mother to help her care for my father. Unfortunately, I forgot about buying that printer until Friday when it was gone since that was the only printer available at that location. So I had to begin my search anew. Finally, I found one in another state, Pennsylvania, about an hour away. An impromptu road trip meant that my daughter now had the Canon PIXMA Pro that she did not know she needed until she started using it with her designs. She’s thrilled with the purchase and is happy that she no longer has to have print-outs of her digital art mailed to her since she can now control that process. My daughter started using her printer almost immediately after returning home on Friday. I must say that I’m highly impressed with the quality of The Canon’s photos produced, and so she was also.

I still was having a challenge finding a printer that I would use with my die-cutting machine. Finally, after a bit of searching for stocked stores,  Friday evening, I was able to snag the Canon PIXMA 8620 at a Target store that was about 15 minutes away from our home, and although I turned on my new printer, connected it wirelessly to my network, calibrated, and viewed the test page print-out. I have not done anything else with my printer. I have not created anything with my Cricut since I made that purchase. Perhaps I’ll have a chance tomorrow.