Because my dad was in poor health and it was possibly the last Christmas that my sister and her kids would spend in the Philippines, we decided to all go despite the chaos and expense of flying over the Christmas holidays. It turned out to be an excellent decision. We got to spend lots of time with everyone, and we had lots of conversations that helped us prepare for what happened.

We initially planned to be away from Dec 17 to Jan 10. When my dad was scheduled for potential surgery on Jan 8, I extended my trip until Jan 26, while W- kept his original itinerary. It was a good thing I extended my stay. My dad died on January 6. We had a wonderful wake for him until Jan 11, and I had a couple of weeks to spend time with family and help with paperwork.

I'm feeling surprisingly okay with the whole thing. We prepared a lot for this scenario, and I know we can get through it. In fact, this trip has helped me develop an even deeper appreciation of my family.

A- had a marvelous time. She played with her cousins, who were both enamoured with her. She took to asking her Lola to read to her, which my mom did with delight. She learned many new words and names. She liked following the household staff around so that she could help with washing the dishes or sweeping the floor. She started experimenting with establishing her boundaries (“No grab. This mine!”) She stopped being anxious around dolls. She often sought out her cousins to play with them. At the wake, it was delightful to hear the kids bouncing around and being their usual cheerful selves.

There's more paperwork to be done, of course. My next priorities are:

• Take care of A- and figure out new routines considering the travel we're planning for the year
• Handle all the medical appointments and other things we planned for this phase in Canada
• Keep track of work in progress and coordinate paperwork as we go in and out of the country
• Help check on my mom as she deals with the transition
• Invest in little improvements

We might experiment with a cycle of two months in Canada and one month in the Philippines, at least for this year's transition period. It's going to take a lot of money and effort, but I think it might be worth it in terms of relationships and paperwork. I'll scale it back if we get too disrupted by the changes in environment and routine, but maybe we'll be able to take it in stride. We'll see!