A Strong Woman ... With Strong Feeling!

Irene is my elder sister, actually she is the eldest among the four of us. Joey comes second. Per the Chinese culture, being the eldest kid of the family, she is also the strongest among us. In our family, there is a famous story about Irene, at the age of six, shouldering Joey (age about 1) in her back, she fought with the other street kids who bullied her and asked her for "protection payment". She won the fight with one hand (apparently). No one can really confirm the truth of this story but this kind of family story always bring us a lot of laughters.

Irene has been living in England (near London) since 1982. Her English is very English and typically people (in Vancouver) can tell instantly where she comes from. It's possibly part of the Chan's family gene, she is clever and hard working. Keep in mind that education was a luxury during the 70's in Hong Kong, Irene was demanded to leave formal school and started working (in order to let the boys of the family continue their studies). She started her career as a cashier in a supermarket chain, and through her hard working and quick learning, she was promoted as the Assistant Manager in a few years. Before she left Hong Kong, she was the Retail Manager of a large multinational cosmetic and health food company. An achievement that a lot of people cannot accomplish in their whole life! She is now having her own business, working leisurely and enjoying her life! Like she said: "We need to learn how to enjoy our life!"

Irene arrived in Vancouver in end-March and she is leaving today back to England, if the volcano in Iceland, Eyjafjallajokull (pronounced "ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl") would allow her flight to depart.

Thank you Irene, for taking care of me this month. Thank you Irene, for taking care of me in the past 46 years! I know I would not have thanked you enough no matter how many "thank you" I said. One thing I want you to know, when you farewell me last evening, and when Olivia hug you and you two were both in tears, I was in tears too! I am fully aware that traveling is convenient and not expensive these days. Meantime, each farewell is not easy as it always contain some uncertainty. In the treatment process, you have seen me in days that even "talking" is a stress for me, and you have also seen me in days that I can sit for whole afternoon without rest. The uncertainty is not about when we will meet up again anytime soon. The uncertainty is about whether this farewell is our "last farewell"!

Or may be like what Estherino commented yesterday "Life is not waiting for the storm to pass. It's learning to dance in the rain!"

Let's not wait for the storm to pass and let's learn how to dance in the rain!