Kaohsiung, Taiwan
After I ended up not going to Taipei, my cousin ended being admitted to the hospital on Sunday. Which still shouldn't have affected my plans either way. I didn't see her on Sunday until after I would have returned from Taipei. So my last week in Taiwan, and my cousin is in the hospital. I've been staying with her since I'm the only person who has no where to go and nothing to do. Still, I'm mostly just a presence since there are constant interruptions by doctors and nurses and phonecalls and people visiting, so I just mindfully chill in the. . . living room. My cousin's father-in-law is chairman of the board of the hospital, and his father founded the hospital. My cousin's husband is head of IT, so she's in the VIP room. The room the president would be put in if he was admitted to the hospital. Apparently all hospitals have them, and it would be mistaken to think Bill Clinton was in a regular hospital room when he was admitted in New York last year.

I'm still going to Taipei this weekend and my cousin being in the hospital isn't going to change that. It doesn't sound like I'm being very compassionate about her being in the hospital, but I'm taking care of her and tending to her when I'm there. I just don't want the point to be missed that this could have been avoided if she had taken care of herself and gone to the doctor at the first sign of trouble more than two weeks ago. It was really irresponsible for her to ignore it, considering she has two young children and her mother died of breast cancer. So with my left hand I care for her, while my right hand berates her for. . . really, that was just plain stupid. When you have so many people around you relying on you, you need to have the wisdom to be selfish and take care of your own health.

But I go to visit a monastery in Taipei for a full day retreat on Saturday, I return to Kaohsiung on Sunday afternoon, and if I can't get a seat on the flight next Wednesday, on which I'm waitlisted, I leave the next day on Monday. Easy come, easy go.