I’m currently going on my 27th hour in transit back to the United States. I am taking my family emergency medical leave. My mom’s health has been declining rapidly. I’ve known that this trip back home would be happening, but I just didn’t know when.
(For those of you who want more information on my mom’s status, you can read her Caring Bridge journal here for updates and more details than I will post here in my blog)
So here’s what happened:
My dad informed the PC in Washington DC about my mom’s condition on Tuesday morning. After DC spoke with my mom’s doctor, my emergency leave was submitted. Literally moments afterwards, I received a call from our Country Director, informing me that they were sending a car for me that would arrive in 2 hours and I had a spot on the 1am flight out of Asunción. It all happened so fast. I just had time to explain to my host family what was going on and throw some of my things into a backpack, and then I was gone.
The trip home has been hectic and crazy. My flight out of Asunción took me to Panama. From there I entered the states in Atlanta, then had a connecting flight out of Minneapolis, and now I am finally on my fourth and final leg of the trip back to Seattle, Washington.
So here I am, trying to gather all my thoughts and figure out what’s going to happen next. Unfortunately, you don’t always know what’s coming around the corner. My bestest friend (have I mentioned Grace yet in this blog?) told me on one of our nightly long two hour phone calls that “Tomorrow is tomorrow" and although yes, that’s obvious, thank you Grace, it really has helped me deal with all of this. I’m reminded to live every single day one at a time and that there is no way of knowing at all what tomorrow has in store for me. Today I woke up in the campo of Paraguay, but tomorrow I’ll be waking up back in the states. I’ll deal with everything once I get there, but for today, I just have to worry about getting there.
As of right now, my plan is to spend the next two weeks at home with my mom and my family. I want to appreciate every day I get to spend with her since I have no idea what the future has in store for us.
Thanks to everyone for all of the love and support you have shown me and my family!