Malia is back after being away for two years, seven months and nine days - something that people find incredible, but just was the way things worked out. Malia, my wife of 28 years, of course, brings back much of the joy I have been missing, but it has been so long, I failed to notice the loss. She loves singing, laughing, chatting on the phone with her many friend, in other words, bringing a lot of sunshine with her. And already the house is becoming organized and much cleaner, my many tools and projects put away on shelves here and there (none really that important anyway), and life can now proceed as if never interrupted.
The interruption came with two children needing a start in life outside of Tonga, which is a dead end for kids like them, and also the need to keep our finances in order while the bridge to our place is out and still to be replaced. No business here for over a year, and without Malia's job in the U.S. we would have been in a very difficult position. Someone had to keep the home fires burning here in Tonga, so that left me.
We fortunately don't need much, but our two children did, and now they have a good start, with 'Ana Malia already looking toward grad school (in genetics) and Phillip beginning a career with the Navy.
So life goes on.