My Heart: March 2013

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

In Memoriam-Suzie Shultis

A very recent picture of my sister

My wonderful sister died this morning after a fierce battle with Adrenal Cortical cancer. It was almost exactly a year from her diagnosis until her death. Even though she was never given any hope of beating her disease she fought it with grace, dignity and heart for many months. I admire the spirit with which she confronted her coming end.

She was my sister. We fought like cats and dogs throughout our childhood. We had very different approaches to things. My mom and dad said that when they asked the two of us to do something, I would argue, fight, scream and complain--and do it. Suzie would remain silent--and not do it. Needless to say, I was always the one in trouble.

As adults, there were many years when we weren't close. We were geographically separated--after she was done with Don's moving about the country in the Navy she never left Springfield, while I moved to Oregon and then Washington. More important, however, we disagreed about a lot of things--our politics could not have been more different. Then I divorced and left the LDS church, while Suzie always remained close to the church.

When I retired in February 2012, just before I moved to the Philippines, I went back to visit mom and Suzie and Steve. We had a nice time. Suzie was complaining of kidney pain--she was pretty sure she was suffering a recurrence of kidney stones--little did we know that it was really the first symptom of the disease that took her life. Suzie was very supportive of my move to the Philippines and of my decision to marry Mexica. It meant a lot to Mexica that she was accepted and loved by my sister, brother and mom.

Finally, as things were clearly drawing to an end, I traveled back to Massachusetts in January 2013 and spent a lot of time with Suzie. We went through photo albums and talked about the memories they brought back to us of vacations, cousins, our grandparents, summers on Brentwood Street, etc. It was a good time. I'm so glad I made that final trip back to see her and had a chance to spend meaningful time with her.

Suzie was a great sister. She leaves three strong and good sons and grandchildren who love her. It says volumes about her that the ex-wife of one of her sons cared for her right to the end. She was loved my many and I will miss her forever.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Hong Kong Disneyland

For our first anniversary we took a trip to Hong Kong and went to Disneyland. We had planned to do one day in Disneyland and one day in the city, but we had such a good time the first day that we decided to go back to the park and do it again for day two.

The weather in Hong Kong was new for Mexica. She found it quite cold. The temperatures were around 70 degrees F during the day and cooler at night. She was freezing. We had thought about the temperatures and she brought sweaters and a hoodie but those were not warm enough. Day two was cooler (about 65F) than day one, and she bought a Disneyland fleece-lined jacket. I wore shorts the afternoon of the first day and then long pants but a short sleeved shirt on the second day, and I was very comfortable. It was summer in Seattle!

My favorite part of the park was Grizzly Gulch. There were no crowds, maybe because it was farthest from the entrance, and no lines for the their great Runaway Mine Car ride. I mean NO LINES. We rode the ride twice, back to back with no waiting. It's a good roller coaster and Mexica loved it. There was also only a short line to meet Mickey and Minnie Mouse, so we had our pictures taken with them.

We stayed at the Disneyland Hollywood Hotel. It was very convenient, they had a shuttle bus to the park, and the room was nice. The food in the hotel was not great, but that was the only downside.

We came back loaded down with "pasalubong" for the family (pasalubong is Tagalog for gifts, particularly from overseas).