Reunification

It was my clear intention to blog Monday evening, posting some photos from our day with Grace and Mark (our niece and her husband from Australia) and yet it is now Wednesday morning and as the observant reader will have noticed, no post has appeared since Monday morning. Instead of coming with a long explanation or excuse, let me just say three words: Lukas – football – hospital!


Yes, for the 117. Time Lukas and I were off to the A&E at Stepping Hill hospital Monday evening. Lukas had, not surprisingly, been playing football and been hit by a hard shot, which twisted his hand the wrong way. It was clear the wrist and hand was swollen and also it was very painful, so off we went. Apparently Monday evening is a busy evening at the A&E, so it took us almost 2 ½ hours before we were on our way home – after 2 examinations and 5 x-rays and with a wrist splint fitted to his left arm. The x-rays did not show any fractures, but apparently there is a small bone in the wrist, where it often takes up till 2 weeks before you can tell if it is broken. So 2 weeks with the splint and then back to have it x-rayed again. It also means 2 weeks without football – even on the play station, as he can't use his hand.

Lukas was not amused when the triage nurse, after he had told her he had not been in goal, exclaimed: So it was a handball! When we sat in the waiting area again he had to explain to me it definitely had not been a handball and how it had happened he had been hit on the hand while playing football. He might have been in pain, but he still had his pride.

When we finally got home around 22:00 I was really tired, probably as much after having biked to work as because of the hospital experience, that I went straight to bed. Next morning I woke before the alarm clock with this wonderful feeling of being rested and ready for a new day. As the alarm clock hadn't gone off yet, I guessed the time was around 6, but I felt awake and decided to get up. I quietly got out of bed, careful not to wake Lisbeth, and remembered to turn of the alarm before leaving the bedroom, something I have forgotten a few times, which never has been too popular. Turned out I did not need to bother; I had forgotten to turn the alarm clock on before going to bed and the time was not around 6 it was 7:50 and we had to be out the door in 25 minutes! I forgot all about being quiet, woke Lisbeth up abruptly and the next 30 minutes saw a lot of hectic activity. I was leading morning prayers at the office, so we could not be late, but Lukas was unable to get dressed by himself, so we had to take care of him before dashing off. Somehow we managed to leave almost at the expected time, traffic was good to us, and we arrived 5 minutes before prayers. Only problem was I was not prepared...but this time at least I had an excuse!

Back to last Monday, after the welcome meeting for the cadets. A couple of weeks before we had found out that Lisbeth's niece, Grace, was planning to visit Denmark together with her husband. Not only was this a visit from Australia, which does not happen that often, but we had not seen Grace since she left with her parents for Australia 21 years ago, only 5 years old. Lisbeth was ready to travel to Denmark just to meet with Grace, but that wasn't really possible, but we found out that Grace and Mark would fly out via London and had one day in London – which just happened to be the day after the welcome meeting, where we already were in London! Did not take long to decide to stay on another day and after driving our car through London in the morning and taking the train back to central London, we met up with Grace and Mark at Piccadilly Circus and spent the next 4 hours with them, walking through London, chatting.

We had lunch in a real Chinese restaurant. I had a slight panic when I realised there only was chop sticks on the table and I was actually expected to somehow move things from my plate to my mouth with them. I looked around, and everyone in sight, including Lisbeth, Grace and Mark was clearly very comfortable with this idea. I sat and contemplated what would be most embarrassing: Trying to use the chop sticks or ask for a knife and fork. I decided to ask whether it was possible to get a knife and fork, suffered the embarrassment of the waiters look, a mixture of contempt and amusement, but enjoyed the meal.

Otherwise we just walked and talked. Leicester Square, Covent Garden, Embankment, Parliament, Westminster Bridge and London Eye and all the time the sun was shining. It was really good to get to know Grace and Mark a little bit. It is amazing how people, who virtually are strangers, still can share and bond almost immediately because of shared family, history and backgrounds. We did not have any photos of Grace, but when you see her and Lisbeth together you will understand why we had no difficulty in finding each other.

After coffee with delicious pancakes it was time for us to head back to the car and then to Manchester, where we had to pick Christoph Schalk up at the airport. The day had made us richer. The long journey back to Manchester, or the fact it of course was raining when we got there, could not spoil the day. Previously we had had some virtual family, we knew they were there, but did not know them. Now Grace and Mark were real family and it felt really good.

It was close to a perfect weekend. First meeting with good and precious friends, then Grace and Mark. It definitely is relationships that is the real value in life.