Erica at 7 months?!?

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Holy Toledo.

I think the recent month really opened my eyes as to how much development goes on after 4 months.  The past month we’ve noticed a lot more experimentation with vocalizations.  Before it was “How loud and how much range does my voice have!” Now we notice her being more subtle in trying to make different sounds with a lot more control and a much softer sound.

Earlier this month she started nodding- usually when she’s excited, like when her diaper is about to be changed or we greet her first thing in the morning.

We also started her on solids- mushy carrots, followed by mushy yams, and then mushy peas.  The first few feeds were… well… messy, with more on her face than in her mouth, but then she started getting the hang of it.  She’ll now open her mouth when she’s hungry and most of it gets in.

Here’s a couple of pics of Erica and her buddies.  Enjoy!

 The Posse     img_0833_7_1.JPG

Flags of our Fathers

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In 2004, I got to spend 2 weeks in Virginia for work.  The hotel I stayed in was about a block and a half away from the Arlington National Cemetary, and specifically near the “Iwo Jima Memorial.”  At the time, I was aware that it was a statue created from the famous Rosenthal photo, and I admired it for its size and composition.  I was also aware that this statue was about the marines who fought in the Pacific theatre, as they hopped from Island to Island towards Japan.

Naturally when the movie came out last year, I was very interested in seeing it.  We haven’t been seeing a lot of movies lately, so when I saw the novel, I bought it to read on the airplane, at the beach, etc.

I couldn’t put the book down.  The author is the son of ‘Doc Bradley’- the Corpsman who is just behind the Marine at the base of the flag.  He writes from a son’s point of view- wondering about what his young father was like during WWII, and this starts an investigation into the conflict, the enemy, Iwo Jima, and the lives and deaths of the 6 Marines in the photo.

Impressions

History is one of my interests, and I thought I knew something about WWII.  Most of us who have seen ‘Saving Private Ryan’ remember the shocking opening minutes.  As brutal as the Normandy landing was, the Iwo Jima landing, if possible, was worse.  The Island, seen as the gateway to Japan, was defended by 200,000 soldiers who had months to dig in and prepare a devastating defense.  The Normandy assault was over in a day; it took 800,000 troops over a month to “win” Iwo Jima.  800,000 with a casualty rate of 60%.

To give some background perspective, it was battles like Iwo Jima that hastened the use of the A-Bomb.  I’m sure there were other factors involved in the decision, but there was an estimate of 1 million American casualties if they wanted to invade and conquer Japan.  Probably the most telling statistic was from Ira Hayes, where a full company of 250 Marines, each an expert marksman, highly trained, went in… and 26 walk out. 

What I liked the most about the book was how the author devoted a lot of time writing about each of the 6 soldiers pictured in the photo.  Mike Strank, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, Ira Hayes, John Bradley, and Rene Gagnon.  It tells the story of each man… where they came from, what their family was like, how they grew up, why they joined their service, and if they survived Iwo Jima, what life was like afterwards.  By the end, you feel as if you knew each man.

The book also tells the story behind the flag raising, and how the “photo” and the men pictured in it were used by the Propaganda machine to raise funds for the war.  

I have since bought the movie… haven’t watched it yet, but look forward to.  Plus I’m also eagerly awaiting ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’ just to see the story from the other side.  The book details an enemy that was utterly ruthless- able to carry out the most barbaric acts and brutal tactics, but not all of the Japanese soldiers were souless individuals that committed all the atrocities, and I think this movie will give balance to ‘Flags.’

I think the two movies show that the only tragedy was that there had to be a war in the first place.

 

Erica @ 6 months!

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So today is the 17th, and that marks 6 months.  It has gone by so fast.  We brought her into the docs on Thurs for her shots- 3 of them.  Same drill, but did she ever let us know it hurt.   

Like before, we have her Tylenol before, and brought her with us to finish our errands.  With the other shots before, she didn’t seem to have any lasting issues with them.  We noticed she looked a bit tired more tired than usual, but still gave us big smiles every morning, and was eating fine. 

Same thing this morning- about 36 hours after the shots.  I got up, changed and fed her at about 8am.  She woke up again around 10am, and was fussing a bit… E felt that she was on the warm side.  When I touched her forehead, I knew it was way too hot.  We quickly got out the thermometer and it came back 102.7!!

As soon as she was fully awake, we could tell she was feeling crappy- you could just hear it in her voice.  Right away we gave her the Tylenol and gave her a cold compress.  Within an hour, it was back down to under 100. 

Not too many things are scarier than when your kid runs an unexpected high fever, and is crying because of it.  This really was our first experience with her being sick, so e and I were both concerned and stressed.  We called the BC Nurse line to get some information, and it turns out that a “mild” fever is common with the immunizations.  However if the fever is above 103, go see a Doc.  If the fever doesn’t come down with Tylenol, and hangs around the 102-103 mark for more than 4 hours, go see a Doc.  If your kid has convulsions, or has trouble breathing…. well, no kidding.

Having the fever at 102.7 was of obvious concern to us. 

Later on, her temp dropped to 99, so we figured she was ok.  Around 10pm, we went up to get her, and it was the same thing- hot forehead, red cheeks, and a constant cry.  We checked the temp, and it was back up to 102.7- in goes the Tylenol and out comes the cold compress.  I have her in my lap while she is crying and I can just feel the heat coming off her forehead.  Again, it’s a bit of a fire drill as we anxiously wait for the temp to come down.  Thankfully, within the hour it drops to 100.9. 

We made another call to the nurseline, and they advised us to keep her hydrated and keep the Tylenol going every 4 hours.

This is her 10th immunization shot in 6 months.  It seems like a lot of shots, and even though we understand it’s for her own good, it’s still not easy, especially when she’s in obvious discomfort.  But we learned that a fever can happen 48 hours from the shots.  We’ll just have to watch her closely… unfortunately E is also coming down with a cold at the same time.  🙁

Erica @ 5 months

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Well as of last week, Erica reached the 5 month mark. 

When E was preggy, we heard other parents remark that they grow so fast.  Boy do we ever believe it.  She’s now approaching 15lbs.

Thinking back since our last update, she’s gone from a newborn who mostly eats/sleeps/make dirty diapers to a newborn that well… eats/sleeps/make dirty diapers, but also now has very sharp hearing/eyesight, has full control over her head, can roll over, suck her thumb, and grab her feet.  Also giggles and makes a lot of pterodactyl like sounds.

It’s hard to believe that she was 4 months when we took her to Maui.  It was on the flight there that we first noticed that she was sucking her thumb, and not “west-coasting” it.  One night in the hotel room, we heard her grunting and doing something that was taking a lot of exertion… we naturally thought she was making a big diaper, but when we peeked into her crib, she had rolled herself over!  Now she can do it at will, and keep her head up to look around.  Her bum is also in the air, so we think it’s a precursor to crawling.

For some time now, she’s been staring at her hands… and it was during the trip that she discovered her feet.  Now she has them to stare and grab at.

One thing that’s surprised us is how interactive she is becoming with her surroundings.  For sure, her eyesight and hearing is better than ours.  While feeding, she can become distracted by the cats walking around, or if I’m feeding her, she’s scanning around to see where mom is.  She’s definitely spending more time noticing and staring at the cats and fishtank… and TV.  🙁

She’s also been practising her vocals, babbling, listening to how high her voice can go, making subtle gurgling noises.  In short, she’s finding her voice.

There’s also been other subtle signs that show she’s understanding things- like during nap time when I show her a soother, she’ll open her mouth to take it, and grab her rattle bear.   

So some photos- the one with Sloan was taken today.  Sloan is *almost* 3.  The other pic shows Aidan (August 9) and Caden (August 12) and Erica (August 17).  Aidan and Caden (and oh yeah, their parents) live in our complex.  E sent this photo to me at work and pointed out that e is playing with her two new BOY-friends. 

Auuuugh!   😐

img_4532.JPG   aidan-erica-caden_b.jpg

Bodyworlds 3

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Yesterday afternoon I went to see the exhibit down at Scienceworld.  http://www.scienceworld.bc.ca/bodyworlds/

To be honest, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the exhibit.  Way back in highschool, I wanted a career in medicine, and the subject I had the most interest in was Biology, especially Biology 30 where is was all about human physiology, anatomy, etc.  This would be a chance to see the actual biological systems we only got to see in textbooks. 

The other factor is how we, as a culture, deal with death.  People die and are buried or cremated- the end.  The exhibit takes what is private, and makes it very, very public. 

On one hand, there’s a fascination with seeing ourselves in a totally physical context… and then there’s the viewing of someone’s remains, that culturally, we cover up. 

I think to view the exhibit, I had to detach myself a bit, and not think of them as people or corpses.  I don’t think I’m that squeamish- I remember a fieldtrip to the morgue where we got to view a film showing a real autopsy and I was able to have lunch afterwards. 

The exhibit.   

I would say it is grouped into 4 categories- anatomy and biological systems (organs, nerves, muscles, joints, circulation, reproduction, digestion, etc), diseases, development, and “human aesthetic”

I was floored by how well the exhibit showed the human anatomy.  The nervous system started with a human brain at the top, and like a complex root system extending down from the brain stem were all the nerves.  You could see the entire spinal cord as well as the nerves branching off to the limbs.  I didn’t think that the nerves would be so visible, in fact, it reminds me of the strings on a puppet that a puppeteer would use to control all motion.  You could see the nerves running all along the limbs and branching off every which way.  The Sciatic nerve was pretty visible.  It made me understand how easily a nerve can be “pinched.”  

I was wowed by the exhibits showing all the internal organs.  You read and see photos about them, but you don’t really understand their size and shape.  I was amazed at how small the kidneys and uterus is.  It gives me an idea of what surgeons see when they open a patient up and need to navigate through the maze of vessels, nerves, bones, organs, etc.  There was one exhibit showing a man standing up, and to his right was all his skin.  Just surreal.

The exhibit starts with bones and muscles, then proceeds to add in digestion, brain and nervous system, respiration/circulation, reproduction.  I was astonished at seeing how they used cross sections and other techniques to show the particular system.  You just have to see this for yourself.

Diseases.  Aneurysms, lung/liver cancer, blood clots, hip displaysia, arthritis, alzheimers… the exhibit does an incredible job describing what a healthy system looks like, and compares it to a diseased system.  With Alzheimers, you can see how the brain has “shrunk” for a lack of a better word.  They showed a lung of a smoker…. and had a “quit smoking” video right beside it.  Needless to say, it was a strong motivator.

One thing that caught my attention was “metasticized liver cancer”… which claimed my Grandmother.  It showed a healthy liver, and one that was full of tumors.  Since the liver has a high bloodflow, it is susceptible to secondary cancer that originated from other parts of the body. 

They had a cross section of an obese man- 300 lbs, which showed how hard the extra weight is on the organs.  It’s like the internal organs were being crushed and squeezed by the extra weight. 

Development- the last section was one of the toughest to get through.  It showed embryos from 4 weeks up to 8 weeks. I couldn’t see the embryo at 4 weeks… it was like a spec of sand.  At 8 or 10 weeks, it’s the size of a grain of rice, but you could make out little fingers.  After the embryonic stage, they had fetuses from I think 16 weeks to 33 weeks.  Fascinating to see the development, but hard to see as I could relate it all to E’s pregnancy and e’s development.  Especially the baby at 33 weeks.

Human Aesthetic- I’m not sure what to call this section, but they had exhibits where a man/woman would be in a beautiful pose, like an organic statue.  For example, they had a dancer “on point”, a skateboarder balancing on one hand, feet and board in the air, a male gymnast doing the splits, a female balancing on a balance beam or suspended from the ankles with an arched back.  There were a some exhibits showing a male and a female in a really beautiful pose together, but with an instructional message about the anatomy.  Again, really beautiful poses, but very surreal at the same time as it’s a person sans skin, and with some organs missing to show whatever system or structure it was intended to display.

So at the end, how do I feel about it all?  I think it raises some very interesting questions- it shows us humans in a very matter of fact manner, and in a very public way.  Every system is displayed, and I can say I learned quite a bit in the 90min it took me to go through it all.

The other question is- is that all we are?  Are we defined in absolute terms by our brains, nerves, bones, and blood?  From a physical standpoint, seeing how we develop from an imperceptible embryo to a full adult, it’s truly astonishing.  The other message I learned is that under our skin color, we are all the same.

In the end, as interested as I was in the science, I couldn’t help but to think about the exhibits as people.  All the donors are anonymous, because it’s not their identity that’s important.  You could tell that some of the donors were older, and not in the best of health.  But you could also tell some of the donors were young and healthy and strong.  I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to them.  What was it that led them to donate their body to the exhibit, to display their body in a most revealing and public manner?  For the couples, did they know each other in life? 

All throughout the exhibit were signs basically asking everyone to give thanks to the donors for giving us the opportunity to be educated.  I’m not sure if it’s suitable for kids of all ages, I personally don’t think I could have fully appreciated it highschool.  Should everyone see it?  I think it depends on the individual- but I did see a LOT of people, young and old, go through, and everyone looked to be very fascinated and appreciative.  And as I mentioned before, I learned a lot in a short time.

The exhibit is now open 24 hours until it closes tomorrow.

Erica and Evonne's Baptism

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yahoo!! I'm in my baptism dress and I've been baptized

Today, my wife and baby were baptized; and for me, my past met my future…

This morning we got up, dressed baby in her baptism dress, packed her up in the car, picked up Grandpa, and went to Chown United for the 11:30 service.

Some of my earliest memories are of Chinese United.  My Grandparents have been going there since the 60’s.  My parents, Uncle Ron/Aunt Joanne, and Uncle Albert/Aunt May were married there.  I was the ring bearer for Uncle Albert’s wedding, and all I can remember is being directed down the aisle with an older girl who knew what she was doing, and looking at a packed church.  I freaked.  Thankfully my Uncle Foo grabbed me and kinda directed me to where I should be standing. 

Vennie and I, and most of my cousins were baptized at CUC.

Years later when I moved back to Vancouver from Calgary, I attended fellowship, met a lot of great families and friends, and was confirmed at 19.  I left CUC and went to Burnaby Alliance a few years later.  As it was there I met Evonne, I’m guessing it was the right move.  🙂

Now that I think about it, the church actually has been an important part of our lives.  Reverend Kao married Evonne and I in 2002, and now he is about to baptize Evonne and our daughter into the Church.

When we arrived, we had some drama over the parking arrangements.  The entire area is a bit chaotic due to the RAV line construction.

We were a bit early, so we made our way downstairs to have a seat.  The 11:30 service is all in Chinese, and most of the attendees are those in my Grandparent’s generation.  A lady came up to us, and she said to me: “I delivered you!”  Although it’s been many, many years, I immediately recognized Dr. Madeline Chung, and yes, she did deliver me way back when.  It’s not often you get to meet the doctor who helped bring you into the world!

She is now one of the elders, and helps Rev Kao with the service. 

As 11:30 approached, more familiar faces- Mr. and Mrs. Ng; Mr. Steven Ho- my Grandfathers long time friend; Mr. and Mrs. Seto; Auntie Garbo; Mr. Henry Ho…

It’s been years, but I remember each of them from when I was growing up.  I know their kids as well, but they attend the earlier service in English.

Erica was on her best behaviour- ever alert and ready with a smile or gurgle.  We weren’t sure what to expect from her during service, but she’s handled busy public events before.

Back in the 90’s when E and I went to service, we sat in the back, but because we had e, we were asked to sit right at the front.  I had my camera all charged up and ready to go when I was instructed to go up with E and e… meaning I had to let Uncle Ron do the photography.  Believe me, I had to really look for the best shots.  🙂 

After years of not attending, it wasn’t a strange feeling to follow the service rituals- we found the right hymns to sing and the proper passage to read.  Everytime I attend an all Chinese service, I do struggle with comprehension because they use the really big words. 

Erica really was on best behaviour- a few gurgles and shrieks when the Choir was singing, and during the baptism she just looked at us and Rev. Kao.  She took and nearly finished her bottle during the sermon.

Why did I ask to have Erica and Evonne baptized?  Well faith is the first reason, but also continuity.  It was nice to come back years after, and still see the family friends.  Everyone is getting older of course, but that’s all a part of life.  During the service, Dr. Chung made the announcements, and said some nice words about Grandpa- that he was a longtime member, and how this was a joyous occasion because his Granddaughter-in-law and Great-Granddaughter were baptized today… and mentioned how she delivered his Grandson- 30 something years ago.  She got some polite applause for this comment.

She then spoke in remembrance about my Grandmother- about how she was a long time, active member of the Church who helped in many events.  We were genuinely touched by this.     

 Erica's baptism       Rev Kao and Great-Grandpa    Dr. Chung and Erica

So why did I ask to have Erica and Evonne baptized?  For me, I was baptized as an infant, and although I spent years away from the Church, here I am many years later, bringing my daughter and wife back to the Church to be baptized.

For Erica, her whole life is ahead of her.  We’ll encourage her to keep an open mind and encourage her to find her own path through life… but that she will always have the Church, and Faith, and friends/family who will always accept and support her. 

 

Winter to Summer in 5 hours…

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The morning of Dec 15th was surreal- howling wind, driving rain, and as we stepped out of the door at 7am, we were greeted by freezing rain/snow.

After the drama of getting to the airport, and losing the car seat base, the plane ride was fairly uneventful.  Aside from the stewardesses dressing in a conservative Hawaiian print blouse, and some passengers wearing sandals and shorts, it was a normal flight.  Luckily we had the extra seat between us so we could lay Erica down between us.  We were instructed during takeoff and landings to hold her in a burp position, but other than that, she could lay down on the seat. 

We were somewhat worried about how she would take the change in cabin pressure, and react to all the new sights and sounds, but she didn’t seem too bothered by the takeoff.  We had her feed shortly after takeoff so that the act of swallowing would equalize any pressure differences.  Throughout the flight she did her normal thing- sleep, eat, pee.  (Thankfully she got the big #2 out of the way while we were on the ground back at YVR).  We even got to hand her off to UH/AD for about 30 min near the end of the flight… just for a change of scenery.

As we came in for a landing in Maui, I had her in the burp position.  During the wide banking turn for final approach, we hit some air pockets and turbulance that had our stomachs in our throats.  We could hear passengers go “whooooooah!” everytime we hit one.  I’m not bad with this sort of thing, but I definitely felt the drops and could hear the engines speed up to counteract the turbulance.  I looked down at e, and she surprised me by falling asleep during the worst of it!

Thankfully we landed safely, and looking outside we could see that there was a very brisk wind blowing through the palm trees, so that’s why we had such a fun landing.  And the sunshine!  Haven’t seen sunshine like that for months!

As soon as the plane’s door opened, you could feel the extra humidity and warmth in the air.  At that time, we understood why some of the more seasoned passengers changed into shorts at YVR.

We got our luggage, stroller, and car seat (it was the very last thing to roll out onto the baggage carousel).  The stroller and car seat was a bit banged up, but what can you do?  We decided to use our own car seat rather than rent one.  The cost of renting one was like $6/day, and it likely would not have fitted our stroller.

Standing outside the car rental place, we had to get our sunglasses out, take off our jackets, and roll up our sleeves- it seems that Hawaii is a constant 27C year round.  Very warm, but not scorching hot like Cancun.  As we drove out and got our first look at the landscape, it was beautiful. 

I didn’t know what to think about Maui- my perception of Maui mostly came from Hawaii 5-0, Magnum PI, and the Brady Bunch episode where they visted Hawaii, and took a sacred idol, and got cursed with bad luck.

The scenery

I’ll post more photos into the gallery, but wanted to show this one as an example of the sand, water, sky, mountains, and trees.  Needless to say, it wasn’t hard to get used to all of this.

Kaanapali beach  

Differences in culture

One thing about visting a place like Maui or any foreign land is seperating the stereotype from reality.  I had questions like, “do people really say ‘Aloha’, or has Maui become so Americanized that they just say it for the tourists?”  Well as we drove along the highway, we saw one dude riding a mountain bike- fitted with a bracket to carry his 9 foot long surfboard.  I have no idea what happens when he encounters a strong crosswind. 

Another day we took a walk with e in a stroller by the beach.  A surfer/hippie dude walks by us, takes a peek at e, smiles and gives us the “hang loose” hand sign.  I thought that only happened in Magnum PI re-runs.

Like Mexico, a lot of the buildings are “open” meaning that there aren’t very many windows.  Our resort had sliding front doors for you to walk through, but then everything else is just open.  Covered, but open to the elements.  For example, from our hotel room, we can take the elevator downstairs to the lobby, walk forward about 10 yards, and we’re outside.  Basically the cover ends when the carpet ends.  

The very first morning, we went downstairs to the resort restaurant “Ono- which means delicious” and sat down for breakfast. 

Something was out of place… the food, which I’ll describe later was fine, the restaurant was outdoors, but you had cover… hmmm… wait… there’s a girl wearing a bikini to breakfast.  We noticed that girls wear bikinis virtually all the time in Maui- to eat, shop, run on the beach, and yeah, to swim.  When things “cool” down in the evenings, people cover up with miniskirts and tube dresses.  Two main observations- This never happens in Canada, and after the age of 12, Erica is banned from Maui.

view from breakfast     

Next chapter- more about the food and activities

… getting there is half the fun

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I can’t believe that Christmas is over, and 2006 is winding down.  It has been the most memorable year for family and friends- lots of new babies, new job, Maui, engagements, retirements, milestone birthdays, etc.

It’s been awhile since the last blog entry, and so I’ll break things down into chapters instead of one big entry.

The big thing is that we packed everyone up and had a family vacation in Maui- Ka’anapali and Kihei.  We were apprehensive at the thought of travelling with e being just shy of 4 months… but until she’s 2 years old, she flies for free.  Plus we had Uncle Henry and Aunt Doreen (UH/AD) on our flight to give us a hand, and some potential baby sitters in Maui.

We were to leave Dec 15th at 7am to catch a 10am flt with Harmony.  The night before, we were madly packing and trying to get all the logistics sorted out.  In the end we managed to get to bed just after midnight… just in time for the biggest storm we’ve ever seen roll in.  First the wind- our windows are double paned and framed by plastic, glue, and compression fitted rubber seals.  They generally stand up well to the elements, but that night we felt the building vibrate when the winds were gusting.  I could hear the window and frame groan and creak as the wind whipped at it from the west- to the point where I was really concerned the windows were going to be blown right into the bedroom.  Although the windows were fully closed, the blinds INSIDE the window would move everytime a blast of wind came roaring.  The rain driven into the window sounded like someone was shooting an automatic BB gun.

In the distance, we could see lightning- blue and red, but we couldn’t hear the thunder?! 

About 3:30am, I hear a LOUD crash upstairs.  I went up to take a look, and found our big deck chair flipped over and on top of our hatch.  The top part was wedged in, so I couldn’t open the hatch to free it.

6am rolls by, and we find that the power is out.  Great.  We still have to finish packing and get baby ready.  We groped around in the dark and found our LED headlamps, flashlights, and lit some candles.  Somehow we manage to get all our stuff together in time for our ride to the airport.  We checked our flight, and it was still on time.  The worst was over.

At the airport, we went to long term parking and took a shuttle in.  The windows were fogged so we couldn’t see where our stop was, and the driver didn’t say anything and continued to Domestic Departures.  🙁

Ok, so we’ll unload and hoof it back all the way to US Departures… a good walk, but we were doing ok for time.  Halfway there, E realizes that we left the base for our carseat on the shuttle.  The carseat won’t work without the base.  Argh. 

Think fast… ok, the radio is faster than me trying to run around to find the shuttle.  So I run over to customer service and ask them to radio the shuttle.  They can’t do that, so they had to call around to find out which company runs the shuttle service.  After a few anxious moments, they found someone who could contact them.  They then instruct me to go downstairs and meet the shuttle.

Ok, I went down to the stop, waited a bit and the shuttle comes around.  I talk to the driver, and he tells me that he dropped the seat off to the Long term parking kiosk.  Hop in and he’ll give me a lift. 

So here we go back out to Long term parking.  We can’t leave without the base, and E can’t check-in without me.  I check the time, and we’re getting near 9am.

We get to the kiosk, and the attendant there informs the driver that the base is on another bus, and they don’t know which one.  😐

At this point, I’m trying to goto my happy place.

The driver then gets on the Radio “This is 1, looking for 4…”  “This is 1, looking for 9…” “Does anyone see Mike…”  “Is his radio working”

Time is now accelerating as we’re getting close to our departure time.  After an eternity of trying to raise the shuttle, the other driver responds that he’s at Domestic.  My driver tells him to hold and he’ll meet him.  We race off to Domestic where indeed, the driver and carseat base is there.  Whew!  I shake his hand and thank him for all his help.  I then realize I’m back at Domestic and need to run all the way back to US Dep with a carseat. 

I get there, we check in, go through security, and found out that we were pretty damn close to missing the flight.  The staff at check-in were getting panicky that I wasn’t there on time, and would miss the flight.  In the end, we made it to the gate and got on the flight. 

The guy next to us was nice enough to move seats so E, e, and I could have a row to ourselves.  I think he also wasn’t thrilled about being next to an infant, but hey it worked out for everyone…

Next chapter- Winter to summer in 5 hours.

 

Grandmom…

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15 years ago this week, my maternal Grandma passed away. 

I think that was the moment where I realized that things will never go back to the way they were before.

For me growing up, it was great being part of a big extended family.  Everyone you know and care about has been around for as long as you can remember, and you don’t know life without everyone being present.  And then she unexpectedly left us… and left an enormous void in the fabric of our family.

I remember that day- even though I was 22 at the time, it was like I was 6 years old again… and I’ve just been told that there’s no Santa, my puppy ran away, and a dozen other events that mark the end of childhood.  I remember it was a very hard time for everyone.

One thing I’ve noticed over the past couple of years is 1) a lot of our friends/family are having kids and 2) some of our friends have lost a parent.  It’s a sobering thought for my generation to realize that our parents won’t be around forever… and our heart goes out to our friends who have recently lost theirs.

So, 15 years later… it’s gone by so fast.  My Uncle sent out some old photos, and with them, some pretty fond memories.  It’s clear that everyone misses her as much now, if not more so, as we did 15 years ago.  

When I think back to that time, I recall all sorts of conversations and odd recollections that shape my memory of her.  I can say that they are all happy memories… I think the only tinge of sadness is in recalling how much I enjoyed those years and how times have changed.

But, the fact that I’m writing about this means that her influence and values are very much alive… and I can’t help but to pass them onto my own daughter.  I realize that it’s now my time to start a family, and create the environment that made my childhood so memorable… and if we’re ever in a tough spot, E and I can have faith that we can get through it because we got some pretty good values from our parents and grandparents.