Overjoyed

Today, I chatted with a friend who accompanied in my journey in a very important time in my life.

I am overjoyed.  I am reliving memories of a time past.  In my loneliness, I reconnected with important friend, Luca, who was with me through ups and downs in a previous chapter of my life in a different part of the world.  I was so inspired by her dedication, professionalism, intelligence, kindness, smile and willingness to help me in my work and in being a friend.  I started my formal learning of Mandarin under her tutoring and after I left Asia, I have been working on Mandarin daily, even in the hospitals, just before going unconscious for a procedure and immediately after waking up.  It has been 2556 days of practicing reading, listening and writing without interruption.  I am so proud of this, but more importantly, I am so proud to have a friend like that in my life, who enriched my life in so many ways.  I am also very proud of her accomplishments, which more than a decade ago, started from the bottom with a lot of hard work and vision.  I am overjoyed and will treasure today in my memories.  I hadn't shared my health updates because I shutdown and entrenched in my shell since the diagnosis.  I am happy that I have found the peace to look at the blessings in my life and experience exiting the shell momentarily for such life experience.