Merry Christmas Mom!

Linda Chiang Ling-Chuan Kim

January 28, 1948 - December 26, 2008

This morning around 9 am Hawaii time, my dear mother passed on from this world. She was an amazing woman who touched many lives, most of all the lives of her children and grandchildren.

It happened really quickly. On tuesday, the 23rd, my mom was complaining of a really intense and painful headache. My father had her take her blood pressure and after getting the reading, she was rushed to the ER. Shortly after that, she lost consciousness and was put on life support. I knew when she had gone to the hospital, but didn't think it was anything serious until I got a call at 3 am UT time. Thats when I knew - before Bill even answered the phone- that things were seriously wrong.

My mother had suffered from a massive brain anneurism. They didn't think she was going to last through the day. I stayed at the hospital that night with my father and my siblings returned the next day. The nurses kept telling us it could be any moment, so we stayed.

But my mother - as my brother Daro put it- wasn't only strong willed, she had a strong heart too! All those marathons and exercise classes and running at 4 in the morning helped her hang on long enough for us to make peace with it. Also my father was worried if she died on Christmas day that it would be a bad memory for his grandkids. That was just like my mother and father to be thinking of others at a time like that.

My mother was strong and steady and surprised even the nurses. This morning, she started to decline and then passed away peacefully.

As for me and the rest of my family,

I was lucky and got the first flight out on the 24th despite being the busiest travel day of the year. I was also lucky since it was a direct flight and also because it was a clear day - just before that massive snow storm hit UT. I was in Hawaii by 3:15 pm Hawaii time that day. Zui picked me up from the airport and took me directly to the hospital where I met up with the rest of my siblings.

Like I said before, me and my dad spent Christmas Eve with my mom. It was nice to be able to be there for my dad for once. Altho as one of our family friends put it - my dad is the rock of gibraltor! Christmas day, the rest of my siblings and their spouses joined us. We hung out together taking shifts to be with my mom in her room (only 2 people were allowed to be in there at one time). We had a good time bonding and reminiscing about my mom. It had been a while since we had all been together you know with my sister living on Maui and me living in UT and all. We even laughed so much my stomach muscles are still aching from laughing so hard.

Later that evening, she took a turn for the worst, so we called all my dads siblings. The cousins and uncles and aunties came and we all piled into the room (with the doctors permission of course) and sang several hymns and carols in 4 part harmony (if you knew my family, you'd understand) and ended with Aloha Oe. Then we all said our goodbyes. Luckily I had brought my laptop with me and I had pictures from making my mom a digital scrapbook for her 60th birthday. And also luckily, Darrell had just downloaded the pictures from her camera and had his flashdrive with them on him. So we had pictures from her youth all the way up until last week. We combined them and had a slide show running the entire time.

After we were done, her vitals started to go up again! We were so surprised at how strong she was. We knew though that because her vitals had been dropping even on life support that it was just a matter of time. So we stayed and waited. We had an adult slumber party in the waiting area of the critical care unit. Since my mom was transfered to the ccu, we had taken over this area. It was like a cubby - small but cozy! Daro, Amy, Lory, & Alma slept on the ground with blankets the nurses had provided us. Brent and Lehua shared two chairs and I put two chairs together and used it as a bed. Zui and Dad slept next to moms bed. Here is a picture Lehua took.

As you know, she lasted through the night. The next morning after the shift change at 8 am, the nurses told us her heart was having pauses between her heartbeats so she wasn't going to make it much longer. We kept taking shifts keeping a close watch on her heartbeat. When it was my turn, her heartbeat dropped to 19 beats per minute. So I went out and told the nurse and dad went in with her. He waved us all in immediately so we all went in and stood by her as she slipped peacefully beyond the veil. We sang Families Can be Together Forever, I Need Thee Every Hour, Love at Home, Kanaka Wai Wai (Let Me Walk In Paradise with You, Lord), E Hawaii Aloha, Arirang, Liang zhi Lao Hu, Wo Shi Shen Di Hai Zi, and the theme songs from Ni Hao Kai Lan and Sagwa. We laughed about how funny it was that after all the chinese classes that mom taught us, we were singing Chinese songs that we learned from TV! We said our goodbyes again and left sad yet at peace.

We are waiting for family to come from the mainland and from Taiwan, so the funeral will be on January 10th.

I am just glad that my mom was able to have one last trip to Utah at the beginning of December. We had a good trip with her and the kids LOVED playing and hanging out with her. The first picture at the top was taken just before the Beneficial Life Financial Group Christmas party they attended while they were there. She was and always will be a beautiful person inside and out.

We will miss you mom! Aloha 'Oe until we meet again...

** My father has asked that if my mother has personally affected your life in some way that you share it with us. Please email your experiences to lindaclckim@gmail.com . Thank you!