I was at work in an oil palm plantation in New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, managing a workforce of close to 3, 000 as head of HR when I received the phone call from my late mother. Although I had dreaded that call, I knew it was bound to happen.
My late father was now hospitalized – I had brought him there a day earlier with my mum and returned to work to sort stuff before heading back to the hospital – and I had to rush to the hospital in time if I wanted to see him alive. I was about 90km away.
Saying Goodbye To Dad
I arrived at the hospital an hour after my mum's call. My dad was already in a coma. I could see that my mum was nervous, being a nurse herself, she did not want to utter the inevitable. I kept quiet and assisted her nurse my dad.
Three hours passed and still no sign of any movement. I sensed within me that he would not make it. We had been to the hospital several times already. This seemed to be our final leg!
At the fourth hour, my dad died without saying goodbye. I stood at the foot of the bed speechless, shocked, no tear fell, just stared at him now dead… Reality hit me!
It’s real, he’s dead!
I silently stepped out of the ward into the foyer and phoned my siblings, informing them about the least they had expected.
Farewelling Mum
Five months following my dad’s burial while we were still recovering from the loss of his early departure, my mum suddenly fell ill after returning from her trip to my dad’s town in Rabaul, East New Britain Province.
I took her for admission to the Intensive Care Unit of the same hospital. It happened that she was allocated the same cubicle that my dad had died in. What a coincidence! On the way there, I had the feeling that she would not come out living either.
At almost 24 hours after being hospitalized, she stopped breathing and passed away. She was unable to communicate after the admission. I understood it was caused by a mild stroke, added to the grief she was going through that had led to her sudden passing.
Both gone now! But as I sat beside her deathbed then, I pondered on how she being close to my dad in all their years of togetherness, was better off dying as she would only miss him sorely if she remained another day with me.
This instantly made me accept her premature death. Besides, there were other people who might be in a much more worse state than me, losing both parents simultaneously or not having one at all, like my mum who was an orphan.
Conclusion (and Me)
Without these traits:
• Positivity
• Strong-hearted
• Bravery, among others,
it would have taken longer for my world to recover from these deaths.
Forfeiting my master's program at the Australian National University and spending the last six years of their lives with them gave me great peace and strength. It would have been nightmarish had I turned down their desire for me to move closer to where they were and pursued my studies and career instead.
These days, I like to see the sunrise in the morning and set at noon and the moonlight at night. I like photography and been following crypto. I learnt about internet marketing several years back and am fascinated by online developments. I enjoy reading, baking, tennis, hockey, and soccer – too bad, I don’t play sports anymore after injuring my right knee! In my first couple of jobs, my managers used to say,
write in brief, not essays…
I like to capture details so in Steemit I will get to write what is inside of me too ☺, COOL! As well as learn from many other talented people.
It was through an email from Fergal Downes that I learned about Post2Profit written by @hopehuggs. In the eBook, Helen Doherty wrote about Steemit and this is how I am here introducing myself to you after being active on Steemit for a month now. Of course, I joined in February this year but never really got around to using it until March – started off with commenting only on other people's posts,
testing the waters,
I should say!
Oh, and by the way, Nina is my name, I am 40 years young with five wonderful sons and an adorable husband.
I will be covering life and quotes, stories, crypto, photographs and at some point, baking recipes.
I am still learning about Steemit and looking forward to adding value to you in the process!
Thank you for reading my intro
@postnshalom
Hope it was not too lengthy, please tell me so if you think it was…
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