I took the day off yesterday, got into my car at 5.30 am after an hour's sleep and drove off to the airport. I headed home to say goodbye to my uncle, my father's eldest brother.
It was a most difficult journey to make. The physical aspects of it - a whole day in a tiny hospital ICU visitor's room, endless walking to and fro to check on him. The emotional aspects of it - being surrounded by people who are holding on by a thread, their families standing around hearing the slowing bleep of the heart monitor. Yet, it was a journey that I had to make.
I had once written, that the only real legacy we leave behind when we leave this world, is our children. And I think in the last year or so, I have exemplified the legacy of my parents as well as my grandparents. For to them, nothing was and is more important than that of family and unity.
My dad is not able to travel, nor manage the emotional stress that comes with an very ill brother. My mother cannot leave his side because the doctor instructed her so. While it is painful to acknowledge that I have stepped up into my parents' shoes, I have to accept that this is the circle of life.
As I try to wear off the emotional baggage that comes with a trip and a situation that we're living in, both from my extended family and my own immediate family - I am at peace. Simply because I did and is doing what feels right.
And I know that right is right simply because it was ingrained in my bones and my whole being, just as the blood that feeds my veins is the same blood that runs through my uncle and my cousins.
It was a most difficult journey to make. The physical aspects of it - a whole day in a tiny hospital ICU visitor's room, endless walking to and fro to check on him. The emotional aspects of it - being surrounded by people who are holding on by a thread, their families standing around hearing the slowing bleep of the heart monitor. Yet, it was a journey that I had to make.
I had once written, that the only real legacy we leave behind when we leave this world, is our children. And I think in the last year or so, I have exemplified the legacy of my parents as well as my grandparents. For to them, nothing was and is more important than that of family and unity.
My dad is not able to travel, nor manage the emotional stress that comes with an very ill brother. My mother cannot leave his side because the doctor instructed her so. While it is painful to acknowledge that I have stepped up into my parents' shoes, I have to accept that this is the circle of life.
As I try to wear off the emotional baggage that comes with a trip and a situation that we're living in, both from my extended family and my own immediate family - I am at peace. Simply because I did and is doing what feels right.
And I know that right is right simply because it was ingrained in my bones and my whole being, just as the blood that feeds my veins is the same blood that runs through my uncle and my cousins.
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