"One thing at a time"

Another year flew by for me. Between my 12 trips to Nashville, 6 trips to Japan, two trips to GA, one each to OH, CA, and DC, I spent much of my time being a good travel agent for myself to ensure that I can be at right places at right time. I just read my last post, which was posted about a year ago after I had just returned from Japan spending two weeks to attend a conference and to visit family members. Unlike last year, I do have a tree and my home is somewhat decorated already. It helped that I did not fly away immediately after Thanksgiving overseas, although I did fly out to work, making me away from home total of 12 days since Nov 29th. I enjoyed being able to purchase a tree the saturday after Thanksgiving and my family enjoyed being able to add a few ornaments here and there over the following week. I have many birds on my tree this year as well as my usual musical instruments and others that we have collected over the years. I think of many many friends and family whose ...

I had never been so inadequately prepared for the season. No tree is even purchased and only a few items decorate small corners of my house. No gifts had been wrapped for anyone from me.   I had somehow raced through the months of October and November, and I had not stopped.  Great thought visited me throughout the day while I was working and I felt the urgent need to put it down. I will remind myself of this next year if I feel the same about how ready or not ready I feel.  Christmas season offers so many beautiful ways that we can celebrate the joy and the true gift that this event represents.  One look around, I see friends spending this busy weekend at NIH getting tests and check ups for life-long illness, others battling cancer, someone nearing the end of their life, many simply hanging on to their fragile lives caused by the political turmoil, and others grieving the recent losses that shuttered their dreams for next spring. My heart b...

Dear Friends If you ever find yourself complaining about how long it takes you to get ready in the morning, because you have a certain routine related to your care of your hair, we must learn first to ben excited about each strand of your hair. Many of you remember when I lost my hair, eye brow or eye lashes due to cancer treatment years ago. I am going through that experience again, not for me, but with my baby brother's wife. This reminded me of how I had forgotten about "being grateful for my hair". I was so blessed to be able to hang out in Japan for a few weeks related to work. This is always a blessing because it affords me an opportunity to be close by my family. My brother's wife has lost almost all of her hair after her second chemotherapy treatment but she was totally prepared for it, since her wig which was ordered specifically to fit her was ready just in time. Uncertainties related to life is not anything new in the history. However, these uncertain...

I have never made any entries in Japanese... but I am going to tonight. Just returned from a phenomenal visit in Japan networking with so many neonatal professionals at many cities. I am truly blessed to have so many friends. Now that I am home, I wanted to share some of my thoughts. 家に着いたら、真っ暗で、星がすごく綺麗で、裏の雑木林から聞こえる虫の音がとってもすごくて、思わず、田舎へ戻ったことを実感 。録音してFBにアップしようと思ったぐらい！！！！ 成田からの帰国のフライトは、天候が悪く揺れが多かったし、アトランタでは時間通りに着陸できず、４５分ほど上空を飛び回ったり、次のコネクションが大幅に遅れたりのトラブルはあったもの、無事に到着。息子がゲートの外で待っていてくれた。小さい飛行場なので、なんと飛行場の真ん前に一時的なら、そして運転手が載っていたら車が止められるため、主人は車で待っていてくれた。。。息子は、顔を見ると嬉しそうに寄ってきてしばらくハグをしてくれて離さなかった。そういうところが可愛い。大学生なのに。彼の友人も両親とは仲の良い子が多いので、決して珍しいことではないがふと日本だったらと思ってしまった。 家に着いたら完全に頭の中が別のカルチャーへスイッチオン。まず、庭の鉢の数多くがどうしていたかのチェック。息子が毎日水やりをしてくれていて、全てが元気。以前、枯らせてしまって、私が涙顔になったことがあるのを決して彼は忘れていないようだ。もう絶対に泣かせない。と言って謝ってくれたことがある。ちょうど大学が夏休みで、仕事をしてるけれど、寮から家に戻っているので、庭やデッキのコンテイナーガーデニングを維持してもらえて大変助かった。実は今年は長期でどこへも行く予定がなかったため、いつもよりも春に植木に投資してしまっていたのだ。。。。。明日、明るくなってから庭の手入れをいろいろしようかなと思っただけで目が冴えたきた。いろいろな夏の花が咲いている。こちらは真夏。 荷物を全部ピック...

No, I have not done a very good job of maintaining this blog's momentum this past year. If I may offer my perfect list of excuses to whoever kindly reads my blog, I have had the busiest year to counter the empty-nest phenomena. I have not purposely designed this past school year that way, but things literally fell on my lap each month! Aside from the monthly schedule that flies me into Nashville for clinical days (which sometimes include teaching days for Neonatal Resuscitation Program or S.T.A.B.L.E course), I have flown more frequently than I had ever flown in my almost half-century-long life. I think, Since the start of the year 2016, I have passed through Atlanta Airport for making connections to go to or return from total of 16 times. Places I went to include Nashville x5, San Jose x1, Washington DC x1, Japan x1 (this was long, 2 weeks). But this year is not even half way through. I anticipate going through Atlanta maybe 20 more times before the end of the year (as long as I...

This past weekend, my family enjoyed the fabulous and amazing concert at Dallas Symphony. A Russian pianist, Kirill Gerstein performed Rachmaninoff No. 3 impeccably with Dallas Symphony on Saturday night for us all to be immersed in a few hours of heaven. My senses are always touched deeply when I think of the political environment during which time the composer had composed the piece of music, and his love for the country. If you google Rachmaninoff Concerto No.3, you will likely hear the familiar tune with the wave like beginning. Dallas Symphony and Kirill Gerstein communicated with each other throughout the performance and we were able to witness the merging of the entire members of the symphony with the pianist. It was simply a phenomenal experience to be in the hall and to enjoy the beautiful, excitement, elegant, and convincing music that is revived again and again. I so marvel at the fact that many of us are able to enjoy the music that composers from years past wrote down with...

I have a dear friend, who lost her fiance in an accident in early years,,,,she met a wonderful man later  and married this man rather late in her life... in today's standard.. she was past 50 but she was a princess,,,and I adored her and enjoyed seeing how happy she was. Her happiness was interrupted suddenly a few years after her marriage by her illness that none of us really fully understood. But it was cancer and it took energy out of her and out of him. He was so dedicated to stick by her side and to support her in anyway he could, although this was his second marriage and his first wife also left him due to cancer. This man is a special man in my book,,,, he is a saint. I had a special and dear friendship with this friend, Beverly. I remember the first time she shared with me that she thinks she met the man of her dreams.....I remember the first time she and her hubby went out on their date. She was precious and he was, too. He took things very seriously and he was s...