3 Year Anniversary On Steemit

I received a notice today that It's my 3 year anniversary on Steemit! It's been a rollercoaster 3 years. While blogging on Steemit I've met people in real life in Japan and the US. Done events, been to drink parties and I've even been over to one user's/friend's house for dinner in Japan! There have been some speed bumps, breaks and powering down, but I'm still here, begging for your upvotes.

The past year has been rough though and it's why I stopped blogging on Steemit. My wife's mother, a great woman, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer this time last year. My wife went to visit her often in the hospital, taking care of her, supporting her however she could. When I was finally able to visit her in August and saw her during chemo I was heartbroken. I knew she wouldn't make it, but I tried to stay positive & strong for my wife.

Sadly she passed away in early November, 2019.

I mention it because I haven't talked about it. Thinking of anniversaries these days is hard. It's very personal and still elicits a lot of emotions. She was young and we had talked about many things in the future we all wanted to do as she would most likely live with us when her husband passes away.

Every summer we sent our kids up to Oji-chan & Oba-chan's house up in Northern Japan. There they would learn the things, lessons only grandparents can teach kids. Sadly, now they will only have half of those life lessons.

I'm grateful for each day now, here on HIVE, time spent with my family, even working. One day it will all be gone and as I mentioned in my post on Monday I want to leave something for my children. Perhaps a path to follow, a business to take over, an example of toughing through it all, or maybe just a phrase they will never forget, like when my mother-in-law would tell me, gambatte(do your best)!

Miss you mom, まだ頑張ります(I'm still doing my best)!