Recently I posted about my wonderful in-laws and today I am so deeply saddened to say that my father-in-law, George Budabin, passed away on Tuesday the 19th. We were all still on a trip to Puerto Rico to visit my father who we have not seen in years when we go the news that Andru’s Dad was hospitalized for pneumonia, and was being treated with antibiotics. Everyone felt that it was not life-threatening but that the complications from lung cancer would make recovering difficult, so Andru flew into N.Y. in time to see his father once more before he passed away.

It is a shock and a time of sadness for all of us, and I am at a loss for words right now so I will post in the near future about this wonderful man. Andru has written a beautiful post on his blog about the moments he shared with his father on the phone, at the airport, as his father was unconscious when he arrived at the hospital.

When I feel the pain of his passing too much to bear, I think of his broad grin, and bouncy gait, and how much he lived life and gave to so many, not in material ways, but in time. He always made the time for anyone, anywhere. I will miss him so much.

I am so saddened as I cannot be at the funeral or be there for Andru as it seems I am stuck in Puerto Rico due to the high cost of having to transfer airline tickets to fly into NY a few days earlier, and having both kids to make it a little more difficult. It seems due to being so close to the holidays, American Airlines will charge over a thousand dollars each to transfer our tickets to a different day. So in order for it to work, we would have to all purchase new tickets from San Juan to NY, then from NY back to Seattle.

I hate to think that the cost would affect us being there with Andru, but in reality it does. The only comfort I have is knowing that his family, and Andru understands, and I know that Dad would also.

My prayers and thoughts are with everyone in NY and I know that God will one day bring our family back together again.