Looking Back Looking Forward

2008 was a fantastic year. It was a year of transition: ridding the old and venturing into the new.

Travel
One of the things that is very important to both of us and we really enjoy together. We certainly did A LOT of (and spent a lot on) traveling in 2008.

We went to Malapascua in the spring, the Pacific Northwest in the summer, and Macao in the fall. Bill took a solo trip to Hong Kong just a month ago. No wonder we never feel like we're saving a large amount of money. It's all worth it though 'cause we may never have the chance to travel like this again, especially once the little ones come along.

Bill never made it to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Maybe we'll make it to the one in 2010 in Vancouver.

Health
Though the tension is still there every time I go back to my gyno-oncologist, Dr. Liu, for routine checkups, we spend the majority of our time and energy on moving toward our plan to have a family.

My latest visit to Dr. Liu was just yesterday. My CA-125 is still wobbling between 60 and 90, but the fact that it goes up and down indicates that it is not tumor growth (otherwise it'd only keep going up). Dr. Liu only schedules me to see him during his teaching clinic hours now. One reason is that there are fewer patients, and it's also because he wants the young interns to study my case. Yesterday, for example, Dr. Liu got the intern to interview me for an hour. The nervous intern was so amazed at how detailed my descriptions of my surgeries were that he burst, "How do you know what happened during your surgeries? Weren't you supposed to be under?" Dr. Liu turned around and said, "Because she wouldn't stop asking about it after she came around. She made me promise to take pictures of her insides before her first surgery."

I'm convinced that Dr. Liu secretly wishes all patients and their families are like me and Bill. He just can't admit it.

My fertility doctor, Dr. Motormouth, has got me hooked on routine exercise and healthy eating (though this holiday season has thrown me off the course a bit). She has been getting increasingly satisfied with the positive changes she sees in my shape and attitude (so has Bill and so am I). We'll continue to chart my basal temperature to track hormonal activities, and the next step is to be on birth control pills to completely shut down the left ovary. If all goes well, we'll start the injection and egg harvesting process in February. If we're successful, we'll become new parents in winter 2009.

Family
Speaking of parenthood, I certainly got a few "training sessions to new parenthood" during the trip back to North America. The one in which I was most frightened was when I got to hold Isaac in my arms at Diane's house simply because he was so soft and tiny (thank you again, Laura, for trusting me and letting me hold him). In the Redden's household where I made the couch my bed, Scott made sure that then-7-month-old Jordy was the first person I saw first thing in the morning. Lisa and Scott seemed determined to burst my bubbles of having my own kids. From the day I arrived, they threw me right into the whole shebang, including seeing and smelling infant poop.

At the end of my training, Lisa and Scott gave me the ultimate test: have me babysit 7-month-old Jordy all alone while they go on a date. Jordy and I had a great time babbling and bouncing up and down (well, he did most of it). Though I could hardly lift the coffee mug to my mouth the next morning, I thought that was quite an achievement for someone who was (notice I used past tense?) totally inexperienced with babies.

Oh, and we got married! It's only been... not even a full month, so we still feel a bit weird calling each other husband and wife. It's weird because we're not yet used to it.

You've also gotta understand that we're constantly dealing with at least 2 languages here. What has been happening is that, just when we thought we were used to saying "This is my husband" or "My wife would like to know..." in English, all of a sudden we'd be in a situation where we had to do it in Mandarin. Then the whole unfamiliarity occurred again. The other day I was in a cab with a very friendly and chatty Taiwanese-speaking driver. Like my cousin Karen, the driver could name every car on the street, the year they came out, and the pros and cons of all of them. Seeing that I was quiet, the driver looked from the rear view mirror and said, "You're not interested in cars, huh?!" I answered, "I don't know cars very well, but my husband does." There! Again! Saying the word "husband" in Taiwanese made me giggly.

Another thing I'm getting used to is the fact that, all of a sudden, I'm an aunt to many kids and a great aunt to a couple of them. A few days ago, I saw a picture of Laura, Daniel, Joey, and Genevieve on Diane's (Bill's older sister's) blog, and I thought, "How are Daniel and Joey related again? Diane is Bill's sister, which makes Daniel Bill's nephew, which makes Joey Daniel's uncle, which makes Joey a great uncle like Bill to Ben and Isaac." I stared at that picture, flabbergasted at the fact that Bill's little brother is a great uncle too (Joey, I'm sure you're a great [as in quality] great [as in relation] uncle too).

My Husband
It doesn't matter what year it is, I'm thankful to have Bill in my life. He constantly reminds me the importance of approaching life full-heartedly and positively. We recently went through a few rough days helping a friend out, and I couldn't have done it without him. I'm proud that my husband's got a heart of gold, and he is so loving and giving. Bill may seem aloof most of the time, but he's rock solid when he's needed the most.

Here's to a fabulous 2009.

Happy New Year, Everybody!!!