“Now I know. All pain is the same. Only the details are different.” ‘The Yellow Birds’ by Kevin Powers.
During the week, Amaroo School held a fundraiser for a family who are in need of spending time together. They had been part of the school community until they moved interstate. The youngest, a little girl, is very sick and the prognosis is not good. So, the school (as with many others) banded together to raise funds so that this family could spend as much time as possible together.
Some wonderful mothers manned a cake stall and the rest of us simply baked a few goodies (I tried my hand at pink shortbread hearts and stars). Wearing pink was the order of the day, as with all little girls, this one’s favourite colour is pink.
My sons, being boys, were not that keen on wearing pink in an obvious way. They asked if they could wear Clea’s headbands on their wrists but we wear them wrapped around our wrists. So, they quietly went into their sister’s room and found her jewellery making kit. They sat down and made bracelets with pink and purple beads to wear for the fundraiser day. These bracelets could be concealed under their shirts, but they knew the bracelets were there.
For my sons, it is the other little boy they worry about. They know what his life will be like without his sister. Just as I know what the mother’s life will be without her daughter.
They hold the love and the memory of their sister deep in their hearts – 194 weeks is a long time when you’re now 9 years old.
