Since we were leaving the next day, I asked my sister Trinna to sleep over at our place so Bianca wouldn't be alone at home when we left as Nadya and Luis are still at camp. We also had the rest of my family and the Luceros gather for our regular Sunday meal, although we switched lunch for dinner.
Bud had to go up and rest by around 7:30 as he was already very tired and his heart rate was acting funky...it would slow down when he was sitting down but woukd go back to normal after moving around...so weird...but since we had no more time to see a doctor, we'll have to wait til we get to MN where Bud's cousin Dr. Ruffy Festin is a Cardiologist.
My family left around 9pm after we prayed the Rosary and that's the only time I really started to pack for the trip. Since the forecast for MN is about 5-10C, I had to bring out my winter clothes and try almost everything on before deciding what to bring since it's not quite spring. Bud, on the other hand, just brought out all the clothes he wanted to bring and left them on top of the luggage, for me to fold and pack:) This is only the 2nd time I have ever packed for him, the 1st time being 2 weeks ago when we went to Bali. I told him to take advantage of my packing services while he's unwell;)
I finished packing around 1:30am and went to sleep, I set my ipad alarm clock to 3:45 but forgot that it was on silent mode so I didnt wake up until Bud's alarm at 4:30 went off. We finally left the house at 5:50 with Bianca and Trinna taking us to the airport and Mang Joe, our temp driver while we're gone.
Side story: My search for a driver for the kids while we're gone is another proof of God being with us all the way. The moment we decided to go to the US, we started asking around for driver referrals. Finally, on Tuesday, Tita Telly called me (and only last Sat did I learn how much effort that call took for her since she herself has been feeling ill the past few weeks that talking alone is a major effort) that ine if her good friends had a reco that seemed perfect for us. She had even talked to him prior to calling me. He used to drive for a family for 27 years but was retired because he had gotten old. Now he takes on driving jobs when people need his services, or sells foodstuffs.
So I called him to try him out on Wed. As he was driving us to Bud's office (I had taken to accompanying Bud to work in the last week since he tires very easily now), I asked him who he used to drive for - and of all coincidences, the family that he used to drive for was our next door neighbor in Greenhills - as in, we shared a wall and played with them as kids! He also seemed really trustworthy and drove pretty well, although admits that he has difficulty at night cos of the glare of oncoming traffic, but for the needs of the kids, he is perfect!
So when people ask me how I am, I say that I am ok...because I know that God is with us in all this...just look, timing-wise, it happened right as summer vacation started so we can go without worrying about the kids in school; financially, and I'm sure many people are wondering, we are more than adequately covered by Global Sources' international health insurance. Even for our trip to the US, normally by Jan we would have already booked our big vacation trip in May to be charged to Bud's home leave, but this year, he was just so busy that he couldn't figure out some dates to go, so now we are using those credits for our trip.
Other little things too like, we're booked in Misibis Bay for May2-4 with a DealGrocer voucher, and I remembered that a friend of mine knows the owner, so they agreed to hold our reservation until we get back.
But, more importantly, we always remind ourselves of how blessed we have been all our lives...really blessed to have had everything come to us so easily -- we have the perfect family, perfect kids, perfect life - and this is our first real test that we have ever faced...
Ria
No comments:
Post a Comment