Early May Update

Greetings from Irvine, California, nice to be back after a few weeks of travel. I thought it would help if I did a quick recap of last month (also because I like using bullet points):

• Sun, 4/2 - Teri passed away @ Hoag Hospital 😭

• Wed, 4/5 - Wake Service for Immediate family

• Thu, 4/6 - Celebration of Life Service @ Mariner's Church

• Week of 4/10 - Teri's body was cremated (Brown Colonial Mortuary)

• Mon 4/17 - Picked up her ashes & death certificate

• Wed, 4/19 - Traveled with Teri's ashes & her dad to Atlanta

• Fri, 4/21 - Cleaned out her brother John's place of her belongings

• Sat, 4/22 - Memorial Service @ Holy Vietnamese Martyr's Church

• Sat, 4/22 - Interment of Ashes (her final resting ground) @ White Chapel Memorial Gardens

• Sat, 4/22 - Celebration of Life party in Atlanta with her friends (Thanks again Amy and Victoria!)

• Wed, 4/26 - Informal sharing & prayer time the FCBC Walnut Prayer meeting (via Zoom)

• Fri, 4/28 - Flew back to LA

I'm still a bit overwhelmed that this has all taken place in a very short amount of time. This past week was the start of my "new normal life" with just Mayo. While I've been busy with good things to do (church, hangouts, work, bike riding, etc.) it hasn't been easy. I've struggled with communicating to people what I need and what I don't need. Teri was so intentional with helping me in this area. Unfortunately she had a lot more work to do so you'll all have to help? I'm still figuring everything out and appreciate everyone trying to help as much as possible.

I will share a few messages I've received that have resonated with me and worth sharing here:

"Erwin, can you bring a hard copy of Teri's childhood book so I can read it?"

"Hi Erwin, I just wanted to check in and see how you are doing? I've been thinking about Teri a lot."

"If ever you want to share a story about your wife just so someone else knows her, I would be happy to help you keep her memory alive by listening."

These words speak to me so much because it shows that there are people that really still want to know more about her story and are thinking about her. Thank you. This helps me not feel like I'm not the only one. A friend in Atlanta asked me, "are you still going to post on Caring Bridge?" I think so, at least for the next few months. I'm still writing because I really don't want to forget Teri and the time I got to spend with her. For those that I did get to meet up with in person, hopefully it is obvious that I can talk about her for hours. I usually need to "cut myself off" with people since some of the events throughout our marriage take a long time to share about. I still have thousands of photos to organize, journals to read, and thoughts I still want to process. Both the good and fun times, and the times that we grew the most. All of it matters to me. Have a great week, Erwin

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/team-teri/journal/view/id/645809af1c4e7b442da98785