Sometimes I will catch you in a reflection.
The shape of our jaw or the curve of our smile.
And yet, when I turn to face you, its just myself I see.
So I look. I look into my own eyes and I see your soul.
I see the future you should have had and the past we shared.
I see our very last conversation and I see the conversation we would have today.
I look into my eyes and I know you are looking back at me.
And I wait for the next time I catch a glimpse of you out of the corner of my eye.
Last Thursday my baby brother graduated with a B.A. in Government. I cant even begin to describe how proud I am of this kid. He not only studied for the last 3 years but he worked full time too. He did all this with the support of his wife and son, who also deserve huge credit! Proud doesn’t even begin to describe it!
My mommy made a surprise visit so she could attend the graduation and I am so glad she was there. Such a special moment to stand together with my brother in his cap and gown.
Now, all these wonderful photos almost didn’t happen. At least, I almost wasn’t in them.
You see I had to get from my office in Lod, to Hertzliya, by 17:15 so my brother could fetch me from the station on his way to the graduation. A friend in the office and I mapped out my route on Moovit and off I went at about 15:00 to catch the bus to the train station.
I got to the station a few minutes earlier than expected and I saw a different train than I had planned was about to come in. So I took it. Without actually checking properly that the train stopped in Hertzliya.
You see, this particular train went via Hertzliya, it just didn’t STOP in Hertzliya. Which I only realised as we breezed through the station. The announcement for the next stop on the route came over the loud speakers. Haifa. An hour away.
Whats a girl going to do? Settle in and read a book, that’s what. (Thank goodness the train had power points so I could charge my reading device aka my phone).
Anyway, after taking some pics of the gorgeous Mediterranean, I got off the train in Haifa and hopped on the next train back to Tel Aviv. Thankfully I didnt have to wait too long. After another hour traveling back, I got off at University station in Tel Aviv and hopped on ANOTHER train to Hertzliya. Again, I didn’t have to wait too long and the train from Tel Aviv to Hertzliya is about 7 minutes.
I got to Hertzliya and after having some difficulty with the scanner reading my ticket, a very nice train employee let me out the station just in time to catch a bus to the IDC campus.
What should have taken me an hour took me just over 3 hours. You would think that since I was so late I would have missed a large chunk of the graduation ceremony. You would think wrong. I only missed one musical number by the local Wind Orchestra and the opening 10 minutes of the Deans speech.
So not only did I get to see my brother walk and collect his degree but I also got to go on an adventure. Good times.
I am immensely thankful that my brother is alive!
Banged up and broken but alive!
On Wednesday night I was messing around on the computer when the house phone rang, I grabbed it because Paul and Aaron were asleep and I didnt want them woken up.
It was my mom, she sounded calm when she told me that Cliff had had an accident and they were in the ambulance on the way to the ER.
I asked if she wanted me to come and she said yes, so I got dressed, woke Paul to tell him and rushed out to the hospital.
They had arrived there just before me and had put him into one of the trauma rooms.
He had blood all over his face and one arm, other than that he looked ok.
Turns out all that blood was from a head wound, his arm was fine.
It also turned out after he complained about a sore knee and we went for a few x-rays and a CT scan that his knee was fractured.
It took 4 hours for the ER doc to stitch his head and only when they moved his pants to splint his leg did they notice the huge gash under his knee. We were not impressed.
What was impressive and amazing were Cliffs two friends, Timor and Mark. They were fist on the scene, they stayed with him until he was moved into a ward, they cleaned him up and held his hand, they didnt even smack him when he swore at them and they didnt laugh too much when his concussion caused him to ask the same few questions over and over and over again.
Speaking of, the first thing my brother asked when we told him he had been in an accident was if anyone else had been hurt and made us promise that the other woman involved was ok (she was uninjured), the fact that his first thought was for other people just shows his character.
Once he had been moved to a ward (5 and a half hours after we had arrived) I took my mom home and then went home to sleep.
On Thursday they operated on his knee, he had a fracture in the knee cap, his tibia had split vertically down a few inches and he had almost severed the tendon. They did a bone graft, put in two pins to hold the tibia together and stitched the tendon back together.
He will have to be in a cast for 3 months!
Then will come hours and hours of rehab, physio and hard work.
I am so so so thankful he is alive!!!
