Monday, December 21, 2009

This isn't how it was supposed to be


As I was packing and preparing for this trip, all I could think was that it wasn’t supposed to be like this, that this trip was supposed to have gone differently.
On February 5, 2008, my father was admitted to the hospital to undergo bypass surgery. He wasn’t thrilled about it, but he was told by his cardiac surgeon that if he didn’t, that he would die within a year. Just before the nurse was going to take him away to the operating room, I kissed him and told him that he’d be well again soon and that we would all take another trip to Holland again (we had all gone to Holland in July 2006). Two days later, my father passed away from complications arising after his bypass surgery. Over the next several months, we grieved, especially my mother, but we eventually planned to take this trip anyway, with my mother to bring our father’s ashes back to Holland. Nine months to the day after my father passed away, my mother had an accident and we lost her as well. It wasn’t fair to lose them both so suddenly and so close together. Eventually my brothers and I made plans to still take the trip to Holland, but this time, to return both our parents’ remains to Holland.
While it will be sad knowing that one part of this trip is to bring my parents back “home,” on the other hand, this trip will be spent with my brothers, their families and so many more members of our extended family and for that, I am grateful. What follows over the next two weeks will be an account of our adventures, what I call American Invasion 2!

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