The worst day!

Just to lighten things back up again. My favourite yeah, yeah, stop mucking about moment was when Mark and myself were on our way to see Alice Cooper and Mark informed me that he had left the tickets at home. We were at the time standing in a tube station in London and 50 miles driving distance away from home. This resulted in Mark phoning his wife and her meeting us to hand over the envelope in a hotel car park, all very dodgy looking. Thankfully all we missed was one of the support acts.

(Message edited by Ian_humphrey on February 27, 2009)

I think one of the very worst moments in my life (so far, knock wood) must have been when my Granny, called Moemoe, was still alive and living in an assisted living apartment. (Assisted living as in having a social worker living in one of the other apartments who for the entire block could take care of stuff for you if you asked. And if she had the time.)
I was working some 10 kms away from there, thus being the closest relative in case. And the in case did happen when my Mama called me to check on Moemoe because she hadnt been returning phone calls for 24 hours now. Moemoe was by that time living an extremely sedentary lifestyle, i.e. she never went out, had her shopping done by my uncle, had no friends, and thus not answering the phone suggested dire events.
All my colleagues saw was me slamming down the phone, leaving my desk so fast it left a cloud and caused paperwork to fly around, and yelling at the HR Im off for today, family circumstances on my way through the door. (Fortunately we have in Belgian Work Law emergency paid days off (and unpaid days off) for whatever happens to close relatives.) I must have broken every speed limit on those 10 kms but I couldnt care. I ran to the apartment, peeked through the window next to the door, thought I saw a shade lying on the floor in the living room, fumbled with the keys, got the right key in the slot, turned it, ran inside...
And Moemoe, lying on the floor in her own waste products, greeted me with:
Babeth, why are you standing on the wall like that ?

Turned out she had slipped, lost balance, and fallen down. Couldnt get up, got hypothermia, got her mind befuddled (dementia was already encroaching but every member of the family except Mama and I refused to acknowledge that), and was seriously convinced that she was standing upright and I was standing on the wall.

Now, she had this emergency-button-on-a-necklace.
Right ?
But she wasnt wearing it because it was cumbersome, as in: it always was hanging in the way whenever she bent over to do something. And so she left it on the nightstand. Go figure.

Unfortunately this wasnt the last time. It took two more falls, and me refusing to go in the third time and demanding my uncle come over and go in, before the rest of the family understood that something was amiss. Moemoe was gently convinced to go live in a home, where she passed away in complete serenity 7 months later, and I was spared further trauma of checking in on a beloved relative who might be dead.

You know, I can laugh about it now.
But I am now the closest relative living in distance of my Mama. I just know things will repeat itself.
But that is life I guess. Its a rollercoaster: 5 minutes of anticipation, 30 seconds of sheer howling terror, and 2 minutes of winding down and saying Phoo-ee gee was I scared ?.

Coming out of school when i was in infants, i was about 5, and my nan was standing outside waiting to pick me up instead of my mum, i go over to her with a big imaginary ? above my head, turns out shes been taken to hospital after falling down the stairs! :sad:
I was in a trauma for some time.

Either finding out last year that I failed half my AS exams (its okay now as I have redone them now and I am well on track for Uni)

Or when I was having an emergancy opparation due to my appendix being on the right on the verge of rupture, Ironicly it was the day that RW was no longer going to be aired. (so far I have had over 11 operations altogether and I am 17, this is more than the rest of my family combined.)