Hello, friends and family!! It feels like a lot is going on right now. First and foremost, my father-in-law is on his last leg and will probably pass away soon. I have never had someone so close to our family pass away so, if and when it does happen, the impact will be enormous. In addition, Chau is having a hard time traveling to be with him because of COVID restrictions. She has not seen him since Charlene was a baby and he will likely never get the chance to meet Kim. The whole situation has been and will be tough for a while, but we will get through it.
In other news, Chau’s cousin will be visiting us from out of town. It should be fun having her around, especially since she is bringing her daughter who is Kim’s age. With Charlene at school and Chau & I at work, Kim spends so much of the week by herself so it will be nice to have someone her age that she can connect with.
Lately, I have been searching for ways to spend an ample amount of quality time with Kim; Chau and Charlene also, for that matter. I gullibly thought that it would get easier once I transitioned from shift work, but it seems like many barriers are still in place. I still work five days a week, we still have jiu-jitsu almost every evening, then every family member has their own ideas of how to spend leisure time. At this stage in our lives, it feels like I never spend enough time with either Chau or the girls and I also could use more time to myself. On the other hand, it is a concern that will abandon me all too soon. One day, I may look around and notice that no one in the house is vying for my attention as much and I may even gripe about having too much time for myself. Regardless, I am not there yet and this is what my reality is like in the meantime.
As far as the imminent passing of my father-in-law, that is part of life and we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do. As for my feelings of not adequately attending to my closest loved ones, as long as I continually strive to improve then it is not too bad of a problem really.
Fatherhood and Marriage 