Maya Road and Me

Hills and Valleys

It's been about a week and a half now since I updated by my blog.  I want to thank everyone who has graced our family with love in so so many ways - from the calls, to the notes, to the gift cards and visits. We appreciate it all. Right now we are just making my dad comfortable and just enjoying our time together. It hasn't been easy. There was a period of about 4 days my dad didn't really eat. He had a couple of sips of liquid here and there and floated in and out of sleep. This has been one of the toughest trials our family has been through. But then earlier this week, he has been much more alert. He is ravenous and has devoured all his food at every meal. And he sits, eats, listens and sleeps.

My dad cannot speak at this point but he can listen and he can see. He loves to see my children come visit. My daughter especially brings a twinkle to his eye:

My aunt and uncle also came to see my dad this last week. When we were little and lived in NYC, we lived one street over from my uncle and aunt. We used to walk over to their house often and spend a lot of time together with them. I remember being in kindergarten and carrying my pumpkin basket and walking with my parents over to my uncle and aunt's house to see my cousin. My uncle and my dad are very close. I know it pained my uncle to see my dad in the form he is now. When my uncle and aunt left, my dad's eyes and face was filled with such sorrow - so much so it pained me. 

I have to admit we are not an emotional family. There are days we joke our tear ducts were removed at birth. To see my dad express sorrow brought to me two emotions - sorrow and relief. Sorrow that my dad had to say goodbye in circumstances like this but also relief that my dad is still of very sound mind.

We will have more visitors coming in April to spend time with my mom and dad. In the meantime, we have been enjoying our time with our kids when possible. As hard as it is, life goes on - school happens, karate happens, homework happens. But I am thankful. I am thankful that my kids still get to see my mom and dad probably 4x a week now. My baby girl asks every day if she can go see Paw Paw and Gung Gung.  Because my mom and dad are here now, my kids (And I) have a better relationship with them than if they still lived in Georgia. 

And we are trying when possible to stop and smell the roses:

And on the nights I have time, I spend creating:

And working and each day I thank God for allowing me the chance to start over and do it again.

 

Love

It has been a very busy time here for our family. Since the tradeshow at the end of January, we have been inundated with visitors here at our home to see my dad and mom and us. Many of you have asked me how my dad is doing since my last post. I struggle for the words to say and how to say them. Things are well to be expected. My dad is tired. There are days he will not even be able to wake up to eat or drink. But then there are days he does open his eyes and is able to eat and just visit with us. He doesn't say anything now but when he is with us, he knows what is going on. 

Related to that, my dad has always been in charge of the car duties in our family. From changing the tires, to doing the oil changes, he has been the one to handle it... til he got sick. We have been taking care of the car for my dad and we noticed that one of the tires has been very low. We couldn't find in the glove box the papers to show us when and where the tires were put on and we asked my mom. My mom insisted it was Walmart. My parents are the biggest Walmart fans in the world. 

So during lunch one day last week when I was feeding my dad, I decided to ask him. As soon I  said "Dad I have a question about your car", I could see my dad's eyes perk up, he even raised his eyebrows as if to say "yes?" So I proceeded to ask him if he had gotten the car tires changed at Walmart. He did not nod yes like he usually does. I then asked him "were these the original tires from the dealership" and he finally did nod yes. The next day I was driving my mom somewhere and asked her to look at the paperwork in the glove box and low and behold, the documents showed that the tires were indeed the original ones. I smiled because my dad even now is meticulous about documentation and things like that when it comes to his car.

And while on most days, I can handle most things thrown my way, there are a couple of times when it gets hard for me and for my family. My dad was one of the happiest and jolliest men ever and to see him the way he is now so so so hard. He has to be fed now by my mom or one of us. He cannot eat solid foods. And just so so many other things. 

It has been hard on my husband and my kids and my sister and her family too but we are dealing with it the best way we know how with the comfort that we know our lives here on earth are just a short journey to what we believe is waiting for us after that. 

I did see my dad's eye sparkle yesterday. I was telling him about Noah's Science Fair Project. This is something Noah spent at least 6 hours on the last month working on for school. And with all of Noah's hard work, he won first place in all of Kindergarten for his project:

Noah did a project on mixing of different liquids with Olive Oil. He kept notes in a Science Journal. I taught him to use a paper trimmer (with supervision). He took most of the photos and wrote out his project steps, etc. We helped him with the titles, formatting the photos, laying out the project on the board and getting the project done in small steps. 

My dad (who is an Electrical Engineer) would have loved to have been there to see Noah win this.  But he saw the next best thing, a photo and I saw my dad's eyes sparkle. I know he is proud of Noah.

And with that, we spend our time when we can with my mom and dad and try not to hold our breath and wait.