I can’t recall if I blogged about Aunt #3* before. Last fall she was diagnosed with lung cancer and given a few months to live. My Mom flew back to Hong Kong to stay a few months and take care of her while she went through chemo. The chemo worked until about a month ago when they discovered new tumors and the doctor recommended stopping everything.

This morning we got the call (seriously when is a 5am phone call ever a good thing). 

The hardest part is watching my Mom grieve. While I spent a lot of time with Aunt #3 as a kid it’s been over 11 years since I’ve seen her. When my parents would head out of town Sarah and I were always sent to stay with her.  Out of all my aunts I probably spent the most time at her house, the adults would sit around playing Mah Jong while I would watch tv or read a book or have her kids teach me how to make origami birds and those little ribbon stars. It was at her house that Sarah and I came up with our phrase Gai Jai Galut Dai which loosely translated to chicken armpits (hey I was 11 when I came up with it).

It feels weird to mourn someone who was a part of my life so long ago. Mostly I’m sad for my Mom, I’m glad she got to spend those couple months there but I know she regrets not being able to do more. On top of all this she is scheduled to leave in a few weeks to go and spend 2 months with Aunt #4 who is having surgery for cancer next month. 

I’m getting really tired of posting almost annually about family members dying.

 

* Yes we really do call our aunts and uncles by numbers. There were 15 of them! My Mom is Aunt #7)

About these ads