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Post by megan on Aug 14, 2006 4:35:10 GMT 10
what?!?!?!? dont leave us like that! geez! update soon!
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Post by <3 LubyII <3 on Aug 14, 2006 12:55:33 GMT 10
Woah!
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Post by jaana on Aug 14, 2006 21:08:57 GMT 10
Update soon!!
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Post by Melimelo on Aug 14, 2006 21:13:16 GMT 10
Please update!!!!!
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Post by strizzy on Aug 15, 2006 7:10:30 GMT 10
Chapter Twenty-Five – Brother, Sister
Then I saw them, running, Dad with his arm around Mum, Auntie Neela helping Pratt and Ray, with the rest of the ER staff around them, heading for safety. I almost couldn’t watch, and I knew that Will wasn’t, but I needed to know that they had managed to get out of there safely, and I thought that they had, until I heard one last shot ring out, and someone fell to the ground…
It was as though my worst nightmare was coming true. I had known that we flew over to the States to help out with the situation, but I never envisaged the outcome of the shootout. How is it that it is always the smallest that get hurt, even though technically they should be least likely to get hit due to having a smaller surface area? And why is it always the women? I had to watch as someone I loved collapsed into a heap, and that was hard. I also had to watch as she was loaded into the back of an ambulance and rushed to the nearest hospital, with nobody knowing whether or not she would survive. And I wasn’t even there; I had to watch all of this on the television.
I have always presumed that the reason that nobody contacted Will and I for a few hours was that there was too much work to be done for anyone to have time to even think about us. However, there could also have been other reasons: either we were forgotten about, or Auntie Neela was so ill that my parents didn’t want either of us to have to see her like that. That’s right, it was Auntie Neela who was shot, and apparently it was touch and go for a while, but I wouldn’t know for sure since Dad didn’t come back to the hotel for us until she was safely out of surgery; I don’t know what went on before that, I may have been seventeen, but I was never told any details.
I arrived at the hospital after the surgery, but before she regained consciousness, and that was really scary; she looked so fragile, like she might have broken if I had touched her. Mum had stayed with her whilst Dad came to pick us up. When we walked into her room, Mum came over and hugged us all, and it was at that point that our family ‘strength’ kicked in. I knew that we would be able to support each other through that, and be there for Auntie Neela whilst she recovered, that’s what we did best, and she had admitted so herself. We were there to help each other, and that we were.
Brother, Sister
Brother, Sister, let me serve you, Let me be as Christ to you; Pray that I may have the grace to Let you be my servant too.
We are pilgrims on a journey, And companions on the road; We are here to help each other Walk the mile and bear the load.
I will hold the Christ light for you, In the night-time of your fear; I will hold my hand out to you, Speak the peace you long to hear.
I will weep when you are weeping; When you laugh I’ll laugh with you; I will share your joy and sorrow Till we’ve seen this journey through.
When we sing to God in Heaven We shall find such harmony, Born of all we’ve known together Of Christ’s love and agony.
Brother, Sister, let me serve you, Let me be as Christ to you; Pray that I may have the grace to Let you be my servant too.
Ok so I apologise for the hymn, but it was about helping/supporting each other, so I guess it fits!!! Charlotte
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Post by <3 LubyII <3 on Aug 15, 2006 8:37:45 GMT 10
Great update!
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Post by lubyfan on Aug 16, 2006 4:42:39 GMT 10
Great updates!
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Post by strizzy on Aug 18, 2006 10:11:13 GMT 10
Chapter Twenty-Six – Feeling OK?
We ended up staying in America for longer than any of us had planned. Mum didn’t want to leave Auntie Neela on her own, and Dad, Will and I were reluctant to leave the country without either of them. Auntie Neela was getting better by the day, but she still hadn’t been discharged from the hospital, and wasn’t well enough for the flight back home. So we waited, but little did Mum and Auntie Neela know that we were actually preparing a little surprise for them.
It was an idea that Will and I had whilst discussing what we could do for Auntie Neela when she got out of the hospital and, surprisingly, it had developed. Dad had got himself involved, and it turned into something that we could do for Mum too, since she had a rough year before that, and she was still suffering really badly from morning sickness, and yet she still dragged herself out of bed on a morning, and would spend the days by Auntie Neela’s bedside; that’s how strong their bond was and still is now.
It was actually quite helpful having Dad helping us with our plan, I don’t think that we could have realistically pulled it off without him; well for a start we wouldn’t have known who to contact, or secure a venue on our own, we were only seventeen and fourteen for God’s sake! I don’t even think that it’s legal to let out a bar/restaurant to seventeen year old.
And yet, despite all of our other plans, Dad, Will and I still managed to visit Auntie Neela every day, although on some occasions we didn’t stay for very long at all. At first she had looked really pale and unwell, but she had been shot, so that was pretty much expected. But as time went by, she looked better by the day, and got stronger too. All we were waiting for was for her to be discharged, and then we could set a date for our surprise. Then there was a rather important matter of how long it would be until she was well enough to fly, because we all had to get home at some point; we didn’t live in the USA anymore.
When Auntie Neela was finally discharged, we decided to schedule our surprise for a couple of days later so that she could adjust to being out of hospital. However, with both her and Mum spending time in the apartment, it was hard to keep our surprise a secret, and often had to leave to make last minute arrangements, but it was worth it in the end! Somehow we managed to get everything ready without either of them even suspecting that we were up to anything!
On the ‘big day’, Auntie Neela was feeling a lot better, and luckily Mum was too, so the timing was perfect. Dad had managed to contact everyone that he had remembered, and all we knew was that Mum and Auntie Neela were going to get the shocks of their lives when they discovered what we had been planning for weeks!
Can you guess what the surprise is? Charlotte
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Post by <3 LubyII <3 on Aug 18, 2006 10:42:55 GMT 10
Great update!!
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Post by strizzy on Aug 19, 2006 9:42:07 GMT 10
Chapter Twenty-Seven – The Surprise, pt One
The plan worked perfectly! Dad, Will and I told Mum and Auntie Neela to get dressed up, and then Dad and Will left to finish setting things up. I stayed with Mum and Auntie Neela so that I could direct them to the location of their surprise, and yet, they still hadn’t figured out that anything was going on, and they prided themselves for being ‘intelligent’ women!
I directed them to the place we had rented out for the evening, and they followed me inside. The look of shock on their faces was priceless as they took in their surroundings, though they seemed confused that we were the only people in the room! That was until everyone jumped out, shouting “surprise” at the tops of their voices.
I was very proud of everything that Dad, Will and I had managed to achieve in such a short period of time, and without either of them even suspecting what we were planning. Even now I look back and think ‘How the hell did we manage to organise an ER reunion on such a large scale without any help, or suspicions?’ the idea is completely crazy, but we did it, and I’m glad that we did.
I don’t think that I’d seen Mum so happy for such a long time; it was almost like she was home. We had managed to reunite her with her old friends from the ten to fifteen years that she had spent at County. There was: Susan Lewis and her husband Chuck, John Carter and his wife Kem, Jing-Mei Chen, Carol and Doug Ross, Elizabeth Corday, Janet Corburn, and many others who I had never met before. And of course there was also; Morris, Pratt, Ray, Chuny, Kerry, Haleh, Jerry, Frank, and Sam.
It was good for Will and I as well though, because everyone had brought their ‘kids’ with them; so we spent time getting to know them. A lot of them were actually older than I was, not that it mattered that much, we were all enjoying ourselves and that was the most important thing for me.
Sorry it's short, but it's kinda late, and I've spent the day listening to my Mum, Dad and younger brother bickering about my brother staying at Dad's girlfriend's house for the week, and Mum isn't happy. My life is really fun at the moment! Charlotte
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Post by <3 LubyII <3 on Aug 19, 2006 11:56:58 GMT 10
Great update!!
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Post by jaana on Aug 20, 2006 18:51:37 GMT 10
Great update!
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