October 2011 has been a month full of surprises – good and bad.
I had an important event during the first week of October that took a lot of preparing for and the end result was amazing. Three days later I decided that I wanted to go visit my family in America so I booked a last minute holiday to Los Angeles. Five days later I left with my kids for what was supposed to be 23 days. The kids were very excited to be able to spend Halloween in Los Angeles! The holiday itself was great. It took about a week to get over the jet lag.
October 25, 2011 – 9 days into my holiday I got some very unexpected news. My Father In Law passed away.
I didn’t believe it. It didn’t really hit me. The only thing I knew at that stage is I needed to get home. I got the news at around 10pm (while the kids were sleeping) and I took the next flight out at 9am. After a 26 hour journey I made it back home.
My husband had gone on a business trip and his flight left 10 minutes before I received the news. We had to wait 7 hours until he reached Italy to break the news to him and then he had to board a flight and come right back.
It has been very difficult for us to adjust to the change and since we missed the funeral we do not have closure. As time goes by we are learning to accept but the past two weeks has been tough on us. Mourning and jet lag do not make a good nights sleep.
This was my facebook message:
I have returned to South Africa with a heavy heart. I am devastated by the loss of my Father In Law whose kind soul and generous nature touched the lives of so many people. He played an important role in my life that I highly valued.
He was a person who genuinely wished happiness for EVERYONE. I have never met someone who was more accommodating or helpful than he was. He was always t.rying to help others whenever he could be it with a kind word, a helping hand, or easing their journey in some way. He expected nothing in return and gave whole-heartedly. I have seen my father in law almost every single day for the past 6 years. I will treasure the great memories and am thankful for the values he instilled in my husband. His presence in our life, advice, and kind soul will be greatly missed. May Allah SWT grant him Janaat al Firdous. Ameen!
We are getting into routine again and school will be out in the first week of December. That means my blog posts will be back up and running. 🙂
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