Being that the end of the school year is near, it was time to have our annual end of the year picnic with the J’s! I picked up a pizza and Mama J made special rice-crispy bars (YUMMY!). Everyone needs a best friend…Nishad and J continue to be two peas in a pod. Next year J will be in Kindergarten! Little J will be starting up in school next year as well. He and Tiger will be in the Casa, though he like Nishad’s buddy, is a full grade ahead of Tiger. Grades and age don’t matter though when you find a kindred soul! The only thing that matters is memories to build on. We are proud of all 4 boys! Congrats, boys!

It’s hard not to think about where I was a year ago…I was almost to the point that I was paranoid about not getting sick this year. It was last year, at this very function that Nishad started to shiver and I took his temperature to find that it was 101.8! That night, I prayed over him– as only a mother can. I asked that whatever he was fighting off be released into me as I was older, bigger and stronger than his little body. Regardless of what you believe, I believe that I just may have took that on. I would do it again in a heart-beat too. The following day I woke-up in extreme pain, vomiting and was alternating from a fever to the chills. Around 1p.m., I told Ashish that we should go to Urgent Care. My friend L, celebrating Mother’s Day with her own three children, unselfishly dropped everything and came over to watch our boys. It was at Urgent Care that they sent us directly to the ER as my white count was at almost 27,000. Something was very wrong. Hours later, we would find out that I had pneumonia. I would go in 10 days later, on my last dose of meds, to see how things were progressing. Ironically, unknowingly, my sister (12 years my Senior) had a doctor appoint for her health as well back in Chicagoland on that very same day. I would get a thumbs up, and she would be sent to the hospital. She wouldn’t leave the hospital. She died that night, 10 days after Mother’s Day, 7 days from my Mother’s Birthday– the same age as my Mom when she passed away from breast cancer; 47. Though my sister wasn’t in the best of health, they had no warning that she would pass away. They actually admitted her into the hospital to stabilize her glucose level. She had just come back from taking a group of people to Walt Disney World. Apparently, she was in poor condition prior to leaving as well as when she was there. Her death certificate says that the reason for passing were cirrhosis of the liver (non-alcoholic) and staph. Though I wasn’t 100%, I knew I had to head back to Chicagoland to support my niece and be there to say goodbye to my sister. Though she and I didn’t have the best relationship, I loved her and I know she loved me. I know in my heart, she has found my mother and has found peace. Like my Mom, she was gone too soon. There is an unsettling feeling that rests in your bones when you wrap your head around losing your Mom at 47, and your sister at the same age as well. I don’t want to rush past the next 13 years, however, please forgive me if I REALLY celebrate 48.

Tiger giving me some love in his classroom.

Nishad proudly posing with me after we shared a strawberry short cake.

Nishad and his bestie. I’m so glad they found one another. J is a great kid and Nishad just adores him and his family– as a matter of fact, so do we!