The Later Years
Wow! It has been a hard year for me and for many of my friends and family. My beloved Mother passed away in January after a long illness with lung cancer and no one knew that that was what we were fighting. I returned home from teaching English in Shantou in July of last year and I could see that my mom was going downhill. She did not insist on picking me up from the airport like she usually did, but at the time I didn't think a lot of it. The days following, I would stop over to see her and she would be sleeping only to try and jump out of bed when she heard her door open. She never wanted to let down her guard and share anything she was going through. She didn't want to burden us with her problems, but I truly wish she would have. I could tell she was in pain a lot of the time and we all chalked it up to the arthritis and osteoporosis she had been suffering from for years. Deep in my heart I knew her time of passing was coming, but on the surface, I was in denial and remai