Absence Explained

So Tai and I had to take a last minute trip to Los Angeles to see his mom. About 3 weeks ago, his mom had an infection that ran rampant through her body. Her kidneys shut down and they thought she was going to die. But she improved and decided to release herself from the hospital, against doctor's orders. (And you know where I'm going with this) She relapsed and had to be readmitted to the hospital.
Friday afternoon, Tai gets an email saying something to the effect of: "Mom's back in the hospital. Her kidneys are failing again. Her blood pressure is through the roof. She might not bounce back this time. Call if can't come." Needless to say we hoped a flight and went to LA.
So that's how I met my future mother in law.
Let me back up here a minute. Originally Tai did not want to tell any of his family about the wedding. He just didn't want to invite them. Obviously we didn't have much choice in not telling them when he showed up with me.
Saturday we arrived in LA and went directly to the hospital. Tai's mom was shocked to see us. Tai didn't tell her we were coming. Her blood pressure was still high and her kidneys were improving. She was pleased to meet me. We hung out for several hours there before retiring to the hotel.
So here are the highlights of our LA trip:
-His mom was very excited about the wedding and plans to make the trip in July.
-His mom shared her life story, starting in Japan. I was touched that she shared her story with me.
- We ate at some of Tai's favorite restaurants such as Hurry Curry, Dr. Hogly Wogly's Tyler Texas Barbecue, VIP's, and Pink's. The Chicken Cutlet Curry at Hurry Curry was fantastic. I really liked the beef ribs at Dr. Hogly Wogly's. VIP's at some fantastic pancakes and freshly squeezed orange juice. And the hot dogs at Pink's were worth standing in line for.
-It was so warm and beautiful. It was in the 90's for our entire visit.
And the lowlights:
-The bed at our hotel sucked! We had a hard time sleeping since it was so hard.
-It seemed that LA isn't aboard the recycling bus. The grocery store had all the produce in plastic containers and the bananas were in plastic bags. They used too many bags for us to carry the food out. I saw tons people driving with only one person in the car. In fact I didn't see any car pool lanes and very few buses on the freeway. I was quite disappointed.
We spent 4 days in LA. We hung at the hospital with his mom every day we were there. Her blood pressure started to stablize and her kidneys are on the road to recovery. So Tai's mom should be released from the hospital this week. If she is better by July, I hope she'll come to the wedding.