Happy Holidays!

Oh wow! 2010 felt like it took only a month and now we're gearing up for 2011! I hope your year has been better than the last and that next year will top it all off in terms of life, health, career, friendships... all the goodness that everyone deserves!

I will remember 2010 as the year that made me grow a stronger and better person whom I hoped to become some years back. Hooray for continuous growth! And the biggest highlight of the year is no doubt Dan's accident resulting to severe head trauma last October 9, it seems such a long time ago now and I'm happy that he's back to his old outgoing, funny, talented, active self. Read more about his accident here and check out the website, too! With caring and loving families, amazing friends and thoughtful, generous strangers coming forward and helping us in such a trying time of our lives, we have never felt more blessed! And these are all part of the many reasons why this Holiday season will be celebrated with much gusto!

Letter-wise, I also found many awesome pen friends around the world along with the (albeit late) discovery of http://www.postcrossing.com/ adding more colors to my 2010!

Not too sound too fruity, I definitely had some low times this year, too but why look back to this year and count the bad apples when you have the good ones that should be carried over to the new year? Besides, it can't hurt to be optimistic, right?

Of course, another exciting thing that I always look forward to with glee is designing our own Christmas greeting card. This time, to save on postage, postcard version will also be sent out to everyone on our list who have stayed and/or managed to touch our hearts in surprising ways!

 

 

Lastly, for 2011, write more letters! Listen to music twice as much as you ever did your entire life! Make more time for somebody dear to you! Be more creative and do what you do passionately and I guarantee it will make you sleep better at night!

Happy writing!

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat

Hanging By A Thread

My friends,

It has been a while since I wept a bucket and had a good scare (this will be an emotional one!). Every day I wake up to combat and scratch out list of things to do. Days seem to consist of routines and mundane accomplishments such as bills paid and car washed... It is often so easy to forget that today could be that date on the tombstone. Forgive me for being so blunt, but at 28 I thought I'd be a widow.

Last October 9th, Saturday after my graphic design class, my husband, Dan who usually comes to pick me up didn't show up. The last thing on my mind was him in an accident. Excuses were "traffic," "just running late...", etc. So that fine sunny Saturday outside the school campus I waited and called him on his cellphone. No answer. Thirty minutes passed and I tried calling again, still no answer. It is unlike my husband not to answer! Then I got that one call everybody dreads getting.

"Hi, I'm a nurse from Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Dan is here at the ER......" at that moment I was surprised that my heart could beat at such a rate. Naturally, I panicked. I invite you to read more about it here.

It has been a month and a day ago, not too long from the nightmare that we survived. Very much like waking up from a long sleep yet waking up with a new perspective in life. I hate to admit that it would take something this tragic to shake one up to reconsider how fragile we truly are. That our loved ones could be taken from us as abruptly as the hand of time shifting a mere second. That putting off every chance to spend time with somebody we love because of things we "have to do" could turn out to be one of the greatest regrets of this lifetime.

Before the accident happened, I was writing to a friend in The Netherlands about how magical it was meeting my husband and migrating to the US to be with him. I wrote to her how life truly is so full of surprises and how yet again demonstrated it to be true.

The best lesson I learned looking back at all those nights spent at the ICU, hoping and praying that he comes out of it well with his spirits unscathed, was "give all the love that you can give." In the end, the best gift you can ever give to someone is not a new phone, a cute puppy, a diamond ring, a shopping spree...... so often we misinterpret love to be something tangible, perishable, perhaps even edible... but no, it is as simple as you. Love is the gift of you.

Please be warned, these photos are very graphic. Not for the faint hearted! 

DAY 1

 

 

DAY3

 

DAY 4

 

DAY 5

 

DAY 14

 So, my dear friends, let us not wait to be reminded about the value of life; the difference our time can mean to someone and how love is still the greatest gift you can give.

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat