If I Could Rule the World

If I could rule the world, my kids wouldn’t have to suffer.

A little over a month ago my husband’s eldest sister and her family migrated to New Zealand. My kids “lost” their 8 cousins (yes, 8!), their bestfriends. Raj, my 6-year-old son, in particular, has been inseparable with his cousin, Mikel, who’s only 7 months older, practically since birth. They loved doing things together, sharing stories and adventures, swapping toys, clothes, and what-have-you’s.

We recently watched the “Brother Bear 2″ video and towards the end Raj went up to me and said with teary eyes, “I wish Kuya Mikel and I were like we used to be. But we cannot.” I hugged him tight and cried. I couldn’t stop from doing so. He didn’t see my tears, though.
Elle, my 2 years and 10 months old daughter, doesn’t fully understand the situation and looks for her cousins Maia (4 years old) and Lilo (2 years old). Much less, why her grandmother had to go NZ to help her aunt’s family settle in and took 2 months to get back. She exasperately asked me “Why” almost everyday, and afterwards, again why both her paternal grandparents left for the US to help out my sister-in-law (and her husband) who gave birth last March, to help take care of their (then) 1-year-old daughter and home.

Two weeks ago she had cough, colds, on-and-off fever, and (bronchial) asthma. She hasn’t been eating much and has been frustrated with about feeling uncomfortable and not being able to do anything about it, and much more about not being able to do what she normally does.

If I could rule the world, I’d make it so there was such a thing as teleportation so we could just go to NZ every weekend or have any of my children’s cousins from NZ or relatives from Manila visit us often. If I could rule the world, none of my children would get sick or I could just switch places with them in a snap.

But alas, I do not and cannot rule the world. I can only pray and give them all the love and time I can; hug and kiss them and help them feel better. One step at a time.