Ulog 06 Circle of Life

Tomorrow I am set to travel to Pittsburgh for a funeral of a family friend. He’s relatively young, only 9 years older than I am. Surving are his two young daughters and wife who’s in her 30s. The last time that I saw him was 3 years ago at my god-brother’s wedding. He looked healthy at the time. I received the call from my other god-brother that he had died of throat cancer.

We tend not to think about our own mortality when we were younger but as we become “closer to the ground than to the sky” as I often hear my parents said, the prospect of one day dying becomes more real. My wife has been telling me that I should seek out a lawyer to establish a living will for our daughters. So that while we feel confident that our family would certainly take good care of the kids if anything were to happen to us, she thinks that we should set how the kids are to be taken care of. We can determine beforhand who would have parental custody of the children. Especially important is that she wants the finance to be straighten out so that there would be no ambuigity. She’s probably right. I just haven’t gotten around to doing it.

It’s interesting that having lived in Pennsylvania for most of my life, I haven’t been to Pittsburgh. My favorite football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, play there. I haven’t not attend any of their games. However I will not be using this occasion to tour the city. I think it would be tacky. Maybe another time.

My god-brother told me that we will be staying at his brother’s apartment when we get out there. So my first question was, “Will there be enough space for all of us?” I think there will be at least 10 people driving from Harrisburg while I will be driving alone from Philadelphia. His response made me laugh. He said, “Yes, he has a big studio.” I told him that was rather odd. When I think of studio, I think of a relative small place without a bedroom. So I am not sure how we would fit that many people into there. I think I may have to rent a hotel room for the night. It’s rather odd situation. I want to rent a hotel now, but my wife thinks that may offend my god-family. She’s not going with me and yet she’s influencing my decision. According to her, Vietnamese families want you to all be sleeping in the same place no matter how big or small. Especially if they offer, you have to accept. Otherwise, they will think that you’re too good for them. I just don’t want to trouble anyone and I want a good night sleep.

Good night everyone.

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