The past two weeks have been full of joys and pains living over 5,000 miles away from family in the United States. Two major life milestones were robbed from us this month.....
Life:
My sister in law had a baby two weeks ago today, and we missed our time with baby Kylie (nicknamed Kaylie 2.0 by her uncle). It was hard to to only see the new baby over skype, and watch my wife feel distance and separation from her sisters big day. She missed out on her new niece and being there for her sister in the hospital. She will never hold her as a newborn, and we missed some of the most precious moments with her. I never will smell the top of her newborn head, and get to take a newborn nap with my niece. At least we will stay connected as she grows, and will hopefully get to visit soon enough....
Death:
About three weeks ago my grandmother had a freak fall down the stairs as she was walking through a new home. She was 85 but healthy and had at least 10-15 years of life ahead of her, until that accident. She had emergency surgery for a pool of blood that developed in her brain, and that moment started a time clock no one could stop. I was on the sidelines helplessly reading email updates, and speaking with my family through the roller-coaster recovery, She was in a comma, then back to her normal self, and back into ICU. The battle ended yesterday, and the distance feels immense. We could not visit her in the hospital, and will not be there for her funeral.
One one side of the coin we were blessed because we saw my grandma in September, but we are kicking ourselves because we forgot our camera. We did not get to snap a updated picture with the boys, but even more upsetting is that they will not get to see their great-grandmother again. I will be preparing some writings for the funeral, and will get to reminisce on some great moments. My grandmother was a great woman.
It is just hard being so far away.....