Browse Category: family

Ditto

My brother posted an “Ode to Mommy” today on his blog and it’s so true. In celebration of Mother’s Day, we’re taking her out for some prime rib and creamed corn at Lawry’s! That seems to be her restaurant now. Turning another year older? Go to Lawry’s. It’s Mother’s Day? Go to Lawry’s! Mmm…I can’t wait. Thanks Mommy for all you do…and oh how I miss the Magical House.

For Jesse’s mom, we went in the other direction. Last night we celebrated Mother’s Day by inviting her over and cooking up a healthy salmon with a huge salad and veggies on the side. I think it’s great how healthy and active she is. While she’s telling all of us to not eat too much rice or feeding us steamed cabbage, she can gobble down an entire pecan pie at the drop of a hat. Her excuse? “I workout so I can eat whatever I want.” Good point. Props to you, Mom!

In conclusion, the lesson to be learned is that when I have children of my own, I will need to make sure there is equal time with both grandmas. Otherwise, my kid will either become a juicy rolly polly or a bean pole who doesn’t know what salt tastes like. As my father always says, “not too much and not too little”.

Hold on to what you have and embrace it.

I don’t get it. These past 6 months have been a little eerie.

Back in December, Marie travelled to NYC with her parents, 9-month old baby, and grandmother. On their flight home, her grandmother had a stroke. After a couple days in the hospital she recovered with a little bit of weakness on the left side of her body. Phew!

A couple weeks ago, I found out that my grandmother in Thailand had a stroke in her sleep and didn’t wake up the next morning. My dad and uncle dropped everything and flew a red-eye to Thailand. Fortunately, she woke up a few days later with her memory intact and no major complications. Yay!

Just yesterday, we find out that Jes’ grandma has cancer in her thyroid. So far, she’s had two surgeries to remove the malignant tumors and will start radiation treatment as soon as she regains her strength. She’s alert and already walking around but it’s going to be a tough road ahead for her and the family. *sigh*

All of a sudden mortality takes a front row seat in my life. It’s as if God needed to bonk me on the head real quick to help me realize that life is short and that we have to make the most of what we have NOW. This sure does put a little spin on Mother’s Day this year.

Family Reunion

My mom just called to report that my grandmother woke up yesterday afternoon. Phew! She woke up and was able to recognize everyone so all is well. I just hope it didn’t do too much damage to her brain or any other part of her body. Yay!! Now my dad and uncle can enjoy the rest of their trip and spend some time as a family.

Cross Your Fingers

My family received some bad news earlier this week. My auntie called my dad and uncle to tell them that our grandmother had a stroke in her sleep. What generally happened was that she went to sleep one night and didn’t wake up the next morning. It’s a little bizarre that the same thing happened to my other grandmother and it ended poorly. So, my dad and uncle took a last minute red-eye flight to Thailand last night. I’m hoping that having the family back together again will help wake her up. I’m just so glad that we had the chance to visit her in December. I’m not sad yet…just feeling a little helpless at this point. There’s nothing we can do but wait. *sigh* Cross your fingers.

A Day at the Park

Marie and Cole came over on Sunday morning for a day at the park. Marie has been looking for a park with sand and I found one right by my house. It has sand and squishy foam floors underneath the climbing equipment and swings. After a quick trip to Target to purchase Cole’s first set of sand toys, we walked to the park. It was a warm sunny Sunday afternoon and there were kids already enjoying themselves when we arrived. We luckily found a nice shady area to plop Takuchan down on the sand and wth his new toys ready to go, he had such a good time. Of course there was a little sand to be tasted, a little sand in the eye, and a little more effort to walk in the sand. But overall, it was a good time for everyone.

The house is warm now.

Dude, it’s 11:45 am and I just got up. Johnny had a little housewarming party on Friday and we all made the trip up to warm up his house. There was dip. There was a sink filled with Coors Light. Eurotrip was playing on the TV. What more do you need? Anyway, we had a good time getting Johnny liquored up and left early enough for him to get a little bit of shut eye for his surf lesson in the morning…not really. I don’t think we got home until 3:00 am. My brudda is all growns up with a place of his own. The studio is only a few years old with modern appliances and a lot more room than I expected. The only downside is that there’s no fridge. Oh well, at least it has a working dishwasher that Johnny just learned how to use.