Livin' and Lovin'

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”
~  J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

“How many slams in an old screen door? Depends how loud you shut it. How many slices in a bread? Depends how thin you cut it. How much good inside a day? Depends how good you live 'em. How much love inside a friend? Depends how much you give 'em.”
~ Shel Silverstein

***

Home again with a sick child.  I'll be so glad when this year is over.  I'm hoping all the illnesses will be over and done with so we can start afresh in 2012.  We even had our first experience with the Emergency Department this weekend as a result of a child with a croupy cough and laboured breathing. It was not a reassuring experience. 

Seven hours later, without having seen a doctor, the Strong Silent One, in consultation with nurse, decided to bail out at 4.30 am and come home.  There were still people ahead of us apparently.  Just keep her calm, they said. No magic elixir. Indeed, she is much better now after a home-nursing regime of rest, fluids and paracetamol.  On the night in question, I stayed up restlessly reading The Briny Cafe (still on my Susan Duncan binge), sipping hot milk and ironing like a woman possessed.  Charly and Ro-Ro displayed such loving care and concern for their little sister, that it made me wilt.  There were anxious questions and resolves to maintain a vigil until Daddy phoned in from the hospital.  She was equally desperate to see them when she woke.

Not having brothers or sisters of my own, this is the closest I've come to experiencing the intimate ties that bind siblings.  My three demonstrated this weekend how dearly and deeply they love each other.  I also noticed quite starkly, for the first time, how naturally they complement each other in temper and talent.  When one is not there, it's like a vital cog is missing.  It's been a sentimental (and tiring) ride these past few days.

Photo by me.  Gnome painting at Floriade, October 2011.