A Family is Forever

I'm sitting here at home on a Friday night... well, Saturday morning because I can't sleep. I hate being home alone and always find things a little more spooky. Kasala left yesterday (Thursday) for Samoa. He hasn't been home in almost 5 years. The homecoming was somewhat bitter sweet. Last week Friday we found out that his Grandmother was in the hospital in a coma. He was very upset about it. I remember when we were dating him talking about going home to see his grandparents before they passed away and all these stories about his grandfather Jack who was a musician. Well, this was his wife. He was very close to his grandparents and admired them very much. He was able to talk to his parents on Friday afternoon before he went to work. He believed that his grandma, although very old, would be alright. That wasn't the case. She passed away that night and Sunday night he got a message on Facebook of all places from his cousin telling him of her passing. He came in and woke me up to tell me. I laid there half asleep hearing him talk to me. Nothing really sank in until about 10 minutes later. I went out to see if he was alright and of course he said he was. I woke up later that morning to find him sitting on the edge of the bed. I didn't say anything; I didn't know what to say. He kept saying throughout the next few days that he was fine. I guess I was emotional for the both of us cause I was crying like a big fat baby. Anyways, we threw around some ideas of how we might be able to get him home. Financially everything seemed out of reach. We had airline miles but not enough, credit card was pretty much to the max, no savings, bills, tuition, rent blah blah..... on and on the list went. We figured out that we could "share" airline miles and the hunt began for Hawaiian Miles. Jake, Mom and even Terina had some... so I took them. We were 7700 miles away from a free round trip ticket. We ended up paying about 250 for his round trip ticket to Pago and 129 from Pago and Apia. Not bad! We had spending money for him to take home (a month and a half of rent) and he was ready. I booked his flights and packed his bag while he wrote papers and took examines early, and then it was off to the airport. This whole time I have been thinking.... What if my children moved away and I didn't see them for 5 years? I could hear the excitement in his mom's voice when he told her he was coming home. It sounded like she was screaming! "Tell Marie not to cry. My son is coming home!" She is so happy to see him and I know he misses his family. I would not have been able to live with myself if I didn't do everything I could to try and get him home. My family is wonderful. Everyone is so loving and caring and supportive. Kasala and I have come through many hard times and our families have always been there and they still continue to support us. I never realized how blessed I am to pick up the phone and call my mom or dad or to bother my sisters and brothers. Luckily not everyone is like Mike and just ignores me but they pick up the phone..... eventually. I don't know what I would do if it cost me 25 bucks to talk for 20 minutes or 1200 dollars to go home. Family is important and I'm starting to see that more and more each day. Kasala is going to be home for 1 week. Only 1 week to catch up with his mom and dad. Hopefully all of us will be able to go to Samoa when he graduates from school. I hope he is having fun. His phone doesn't work over there and I sit around calling it KNOWING that is doesn't work but hoping by some miracle that he'll pick up. He will be home soon enough. I am trying my hardest to let him enjoy his time with his famiy. I do miss him though.