Fear of Death of Loved Ones

If you were to ask me for a list of what I fear in life, you'll see for sure at the top of it, the fear of death of my loved ones. But death is inevitable, it is something that nobody can predict, it comes like a thief in the night, without any warning.

Sunday night at around 10:30 PM, I got a call from my panicking aunt that my uncle was picked up by the 911 ambulance. He complained of having a hard time to breathe. An hour later, my aunt called again and told me that my uncle would undergo surgery to open up clogged arteries. And then the inevitable came, at about 30 minutes past midnight, my uncle passed away, he died of massive heart attack.

I was shocked and my aunt was devastated. Who wouldn't be? I know my uncle was a stubborn guy, I even told him about that. He never gave up smoking even if he already had emphysema. Whenever he had trouble breathing, in few minutes he would recover and feel better again. I'm sure he was having the same problem that night, he probably thought he would feel better but unluckily it got worse.

Though we had differences in many things, we came to agree to disagree. I always spoke my mind and I know he respected me for that. I will miss him. Wherever he is right now, I'm sure he is in a better place.

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Angels in My Flights (Part 3)

I already got back from our 2-month vacation but I haven't posted the last part of our experience on the plane when we flew to the Philippines. Before I post some updates here, allow me to share the last part of Angels in My Flights. Here it goes.

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My son was all charged up. He slept for 6 hours in the flight. When we reached Tokyo, he was so energized. When we vacated the plane, at the end of the jet, I saw a green stroller right before my eyes. I was very happy, this meant it would be an easy walk from the plane to the next security check and next gate. But I was wrong. The stroller meant another load to take since my son was not willing to sit in it. He was screaming and wiggling his way out. But there were several escalators to take and a long walk till the next point. And the next angels in my flight were a Filipino couple who helped me with some of my loads so I can keep up with my son. They even agreed to keep an eye on my stuffs while I searched through stores for some jeans or jackets to buy. God was with me all throughout my flight, sending me angels when I needed help. It was a long, eventful and exhausting flight, but nevertheless made easier with the help of strangers who were my angels.

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Angels in My Flights (Part 2)

So the second leg of our trip was the most ‘dreadful’ one for me. It was an 11 ½ hour connecting flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo, Japan. I was happy to be seated next to a mom of three kids. She’s very nice and friendly and she’s a Thai. She didn’t mind my son moving a lot in his seat having had the same boy herself. We talked about some mommy stuffs for most of the flight. In this flight I had to go to the bathroom as often as I needed to. For some reasons, my period got heavy (it was my 7^th day already, I'm normally done in 5 days!). Probably it was due to stress and everything else put together.

What could be a perfect time to get a monthly period but at this time when I had to travel alone with a three-year old on a 26- hour plane trip? And while my son was asleep on top of me, I couldn’t put him down without waking him up, so I wasn’t able to go at all. The next thing I knew I got a big circular stain on my jeans with the size of a big apple, yuk! (pardon me guys). I didn’t even have any spare underwear nor a pair of jeans in my carry-on. Anyway, I sat through the remaining hours of the flight till I braved giving a hint to my Thai seatmate that I got a big problem. She right away volunteered to lend me a spare jacket to tie around my waste to cover the stain.

She was petite so her jacket was really tiny, but it was better than nothing. She and her family would also wait for at least two hours in Tokyo for their connecting flight to Thailand. I promised to buy anything at the airport so I can return her jacket right away. But just in case, I took her address so I can mail the jacket back. I saw them again in the security point and then lost them in the crowd. She was the second angel in my flight, a very kind and helpful person. She trusted me, a stranger with a jacket to help me get away from the humiliation of walking with a stain behind me. Amazing!

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Angels in My Flights (Part 1)

As most of you know, I left for a two-month vacation with my little son on Wednesday last week. It was my first time to travel alone with my son, and I was not quite sure what to expect. He is a very active and energetic little boy, and can’t be restrained in one place for a very long time. Which three-year old could be anyway? So just figure how he could manage the 26-hour plane trip across the Pacific (19 hours on plane, 7 hours layover). Though I came prepared with a monkey-leash to keep him closer to me when walking and a stroller to sit him comfortably when napping; there’s no guarantee however that he will agree to be strapped to any of them. Needless to say, these gadgets didn’t help much. My son would rather walk (aimlessly) in a crowded airport and roll his own carry-on. At age 3, he kept insisting he’s a big-boy and wanted to do everything on his own. So you can just imagine how stressful it was to run after him or hold his hand without a fight.

When I checked in our stroller at the gate in Boston, I specifically told the crew that we still have two connecting flights so I would of course need the stroller. Few minutes before reaching our first destination, my son fell asleep. I opted to vacate the plane last so I could lay my son on the seat and run for the stroller at the end of the jet quickly. But the good ol stroller was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, all the crews of the plane who were so ready to leave themselves too got stuck with me while I waited for the stroller. Then they said that it probably got sent to our final destination. Are you kidding me? Have I just carried a stroller and not even serve its purpose? I showed them my receipt and it says it should be at each connecting flights. They apologized for what happened and told me that it was just the first that this occurred. Yeah and of all the other times it could happen, it should be now. But I was still furious. Good thing they helped me out and carried some of my carry-on bags.

My son woke up cranky and restless in my arms. I tried to put him on the floor for a while so I could check on the monitor the gate for the second leg of our trip. But he didn’t like it so he screamed, cried and begged me to pick him up. With two carry-on bags; a purse and a screaming tot hanging on my body and not sure how far the next gate would be, at this point I was also breaking into tears. Then an old lady by the name of Donna Pierson noticed me. She had a cartful of boxes with fliers; her blue shirt had an MSP logo printed on it. She asked me where I was headed to and I said I was still trying to squeeze myself at the monitor to look for our gate. She was so kind and volunteered to do it for me. When she found out the gate, I was hoping she could give direction too, but I got an even better deal because she volunteered to take us there! Wow, she was really nice, so my tears rolled down my cheeks now out of happiness that somebody is willing to help me with my stuffs.

I carried my son up to some point and at other points he agreed to walk on the travelator so there was not much strain on my arms and back. I told Donna to just take us to the gate and I’ll just figure where to get lunch there. She said she could take us to McDonald's if I wanted to and volunteered to watch my son while I order the food. With a little bit of hesitation and a grumbling stomach and light-headedness, I accepted the offer. I ordered food-to-go quickly and then we headed finally to our gate.

Donna was such an enormous help, an angel sent from heaven. She must be in her late 70's. My son even called her grandma. I gave her a big hug to thank her for her wonderful gesture.

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