Good Fortune

"Don't worry about the stock market. Invest in family." This was the message on my fortune cookie from dinner last night with my family. My grandmother just returned from LA after three weeks of recovering from severe tendonitis, no doubt caused by all the work she put into making food such as bindaedduk, yahk-bab, and various other dishes we enjoyed over the holidays in Yosemite. She was told by the physical therapist/chiropracter who checked her out after she experienced completely debilitating pain in her right arm that her body doesn't create the lubricating matter in between the joints anymore due to her old age, so she has to be careful with overworking any joints. She was told that she should refrain from ever reaching her right arm above shoulder level again or from over-working her right arm.

Again, these days the brevity of our quality time together is all too real. Next weekend I'm taking my grandmother to Hawaii for a weekend grandmother-granddaughter getaway. She has always wanted to and never been able to visit Hawaii before. A couple years ago I offered to send her and my grandfather (a sometimes presence in our lives who usually resides in Japan) as a Christmas gift - all expenses paid - and he scoffed at the idea, saying that he'd been to Hawaii numerous times before and didn't need to see it again. To which I recall thinking: life isn't always about YOU, how about going with Grandma since you know she really really wants to go and can't go by herself, you selfish bastard. He refused and I ended up getting my grandma a set of golf clubs instead. Then last year with my grandmother encountering more and more health issues, I realized that I should do the trip with her, and sooner rather than later. So we planned for a weekend in November and as Murphy's Law would dictate, I got staffed on a deal and we had to postpone the trip. So our trip was rescheduled for the third weekend of January, and God willing, we will finally make it there.

I never discount things I believe to be valid signs, and as stupid as it is, I think the fortune cookie was a message for me from the powers that be, a reminder of something I know but lose track of sometimes in these stressful and unpredictable times. At the end of the day, all that matters is the time we spend with our loved ones. Which is not to say money is not important - it's what allows us to enjoy the lifestyles we want, puts a roof over our heads and food in our bellies and pays for things like trips to Hawaii. But it's not what I should be focusing on, now or ever, because at the end of the day, I know I will be alright. I've been money-poor and money-comfortably ok in my life but I have always, always been people-rich, and that is the greatest fortune there is.