Weekend of Pot Stirring

Starting pharmacy school in 2013 would mark a period for Peter where he would be significantly further from family in LA. Undergraduate studies at UCSD, while still far from LA, was still considerably compared to his trek to Northern California for professional school followed by his first few positions as a pharmacist. In his first few years of working, he had already jumped into a variety of clinical roles. He eventually found himself juggling two jobs with a full 80 hours per week.

This meant that his available time to see family would be very limited while he grinded away in NorCal. His family would make the trip up to see him on occasion, but it was comparatively scarcer than when he lived in SoCal. This all changed when COVID-19 arrived. Combined with the awakening that his parents were only getting older, this spurred Peter to jump ships. This would be the beginning of his transition into his current role. He made a near-180 switch from a clinical and patient-facing pharmacist to an IT position where he could support hospital systems remotely.

To this day, he is still working for a hospital system based out of the Central Valley from the luxury of our apartment here in SGV. In the early years of the COVID pandemic, however, he was living with family. There was an abrupt transition from being more isolated in NorCal to suddenly being surrounded by family again in SoCal. This also opened up many opportunities for him to pick up more responsibilities within his family’s business. It was part of his mission to free up his parents’ time so they could enjoy retirement.

As the pandemic lifted, his parents started back up with the world travels. They even slowly transitioned their residence to outside of California. Between cruises and their new state of residence, this meant that they’d only be in LA for weeks at a time. Sometime amidst this transition was when Peter and I met. As Peter moved out of his parents’ place, they were already embarking on this next chapter of their lives.

Though we get to see his parents only in short windows, the occasions are always filled with so much joy. We do our best to capture their time whenever they’re in town. As a result, we’ve been able to share many events together. Most recently, we celebrated his mom’s birthday. They had just returned from a big excursion throughout Asia. They would be in town for just over a week before leaving again for several more months.

There was a two-part celebration for Peter’s mom. The first was planned by Jackie: a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant known for its Peking duck. Jackie coordinated with her siblings and father to surprise her mom. Naturally, the surprise was spoiled by a few dead giveaways—their mom couldn’t be fooled. Regardless, we still had a very nice evening together out at the restaurant.

The second part of the celebration was piggy-backed on his mom’s decision to make beef stew. As mothers are wont to do, she always lovingly makes a big pot of Peter’s favorite foods when she’s in town. This time, she made a big pot of delicious beef stew. In addition to this, she prepared all the accoutrements and plenty of fresh fruit for the party. She invited her sisters to the occasion, along with us usual “kids.”

We wanted to show an appreciation for her. After all, even for her own birthday celebration, she spent an inordinate amount of time preparing food. As such, Jackie reached into her treasure trove of goodies and retrieved a special birthday card sourced from our last trip to Japan. Peter and I arranged some flowers and brought over cake and egg tarts. This time, their mom was actually surprised. As is often the case with these large gatherings, we had our fill of food and yapping. We took some cute photos and that marked the end of our celebratory weekend.

For Peter, his parents’ frequent travels and move out of state is a bittersweet experience. He is immensely happy that they get to enjoy their lives with a little less stress, especially as he and his siblings slowly absorb more responsibilities from the family business. He’s grateful that they get live so freely, and truly enjoy the fruits of their labor. On the other hand, he is eager to see them more often, never missing an opportunity to catch them when in town.

Fortunately, we have an upcoming trip with them in just a few months. We are very excited to travel with them come November as it’ll be several weeks abroad. We will get to see first-hand and benefit from their worldly experience. Maybe one of these days, we’ll achieve our own freedom to travel more frequently alongside both of our parents while they still have the youth and energy to do so!