Our Son was Home for the Holidays!

It was such exciting news! After nearly two years without seeing our son who works outside of Canada, was finaly coming home! We have been talking about it for weeks. E. was never too sure what the new COVID protocol would be for travel. It has been difficult for E. if he should book his ticket coming home amid the constant changes that the government on both side of the border has been making and updating constanly.

We talked about two weeks ago and he said might be he woud know by Nov. 15 ( 2021) but he didn;t call, so we thought he would not be able to travel. We went out of town on the Thursday where we learned that he would be coming home on Sunday morning! I wanted to decorate the house and give him a big welcome home but we would not be able to do it. I called my sister who was kind enough to buy the balloons and do it for us! After entertaining Erin' family in our Waterloo home, we left on Sunday morning to pick up E. from the airport.It was so good to see and hug our son again after almost two years! The last time we saw him was December 2019 when we spent a week in SF. How time has flown by! E. has gained weight, aged a little, but still has his youthful look.He has changed job, trading his seccure position from a high tech company to working in a more conservative industry. He also parted way with his long time roommate and found a new place to live. Now the two cats and his new room mate are keeping him company. It was wonderful having E. home for the week! The house was filled with laughter, youthful energy and interesting conversations at dinner table at meal times. I love cooking for our sons when they are home. We love hearing all the stories and interesting things happening in E.'s life. Catching up with what's going on and learning about E. success in his career made our time together special. We wished E. could have worked from home in Canada and stayed a bit longer than merely a week.

E. even made a special effort to visit my mom at the long term care home and played some games with her. Mom loved seeing her grandkids any time of the year!

Fortunately, a few weeks later, E. came home again for Christmas spending another week or so at home! By then, the CVOID cases number went up due to OMICON, Toronto and GTA area were in lockdown, cancelling all the Christmas and New Year celebrataions nad events. We were lucky that E. got to see grandma on his last visit as he was allowed to see her during the Christmas break at home.

We did a few things together before things were locked down again. We went out to see a movie together at the LIght Box in downtown Toronto, an activity which we have not done since 2020.

My sister invited us at her house for a Mah Jong lesson and game for E. as well.

We were grateful having him at home twice within a month after his absences from home since the beginning of the pandemic! R.T. Toronto, Canada 2021 Nov.

Saying Goodbye to Her Senior Apartment and Moving to a Long Term Care

Nov. 2021

Watching the recent Olympic games on TV brought back a lot of fond memories. I couldn't help but thought of my father who was an avid sports fan. My father loved basketball and he used to play on his interschool basketball team in HK. He loved watching sports of all kinds, often cheering loudly for his favourite teams, namely: the Toronto Maple Leaf hockey team and the Raptors basketball team. My parents used to live in a 4 bedroom house in the Toronto's east end. 

My mother was tirelessly in keeping the house clean and making it welcoming for her children and grandchildren. She enjoyed cooking for her grown children and grandkids. We were invited to my parents' house for dinner regularly, and mom always cooked up a storm preparing a feast for us as well as for the whole big fat family during special occasions such as Christmas and New Year. 

 After my father passed away in the same month as the first Olympic games were held in China in 2008, my mother lived by herself in the family house. She stayed in the house for a little while but that house became too big for her.  After selling her house and living with my brother for a short time, she moved into the St. Paul senior apartment. 

She had been living at St. Paul's Senior Apartment until she suffered a stroke which paralyzed the left side of her body. My mom and the family struggled with the decision where she should be after being released from the Rehab Centre. It was a difficult decision as we needed to consider many factors.

 After working with the social worker and the care team at Providence Rehab Centre, we finally decided that going to a long term care home would be the best for mom. Mom was fortunate enough to be accepted at a long term care home in Stouffville, though not our first choice.  Since Mom would be going to a long term care home, she needed to leave the senior apartment. To make the transition for her, we organized a small farewell party for mom so that she would have an opportunity to say good bye to her friends at St. Paul.

We made arrangement with a wheel chair transit company and brought Mom out of her nursing home. 

My brother called Mom's friends who all came to her apartment at around 3:00pm. Mom has been gone from her senior apartment since the stroke and this was the first time she was back at her old place.

 

Mom recognized her friends; they caught up with each other told each other the latest news about friends and church. I could see that Mom was emotional about leaving her old apartment. She was quiet, looking everywhere savouring the last moment at her own place. 

The transition from her senior apartment to the current nursing home must have overwhelming for Mom, as well as making decisions of what to keep and parting with her possessions accumulated over a life time. 

Mom's many friends' presence at the party helped lifted Mom's spirit. We chatted, took pictures.

We ordered a special cake and mom cut the cake and we served the food and drinks to her friends who stayed for a little while and said their good bye and best wishes to Mom. 

The small farewell party was a closure for Mom. She realized then that there was no going back to her old life at the senior apartment. 

She is moving on to a new chapter in her life at the long term care home.

One of the biggest fears of going into the home is that she would be left behind there and that no one would visit her. 

We have made a promise to Mom, no matter what the nursing home is, one of us will visit her each day so that she will always have visitors. We have made that promise to Mom and we will certainly keep that promise! 

 R.T. Toronto