Well my final one for this week. A serious one to make it even.
Dear Parents,

We are not a demonstrative family. We do not hug or share our feelings, and we are very English in the way we relate to each other. So this letter is where I can thank you. Thank you mum for looking after me when I was ill. You went through what no parent should have to, the idea that your child was going to die before you. I know you fought for me. Even when I was on that edge I knew that you fought others for me. The nurses who abused, the physios who bullied, the doctors who threatened were warned off by you. You kicked the ward sisters door when she wouldn't respond to your letters and complaints and forced her to realise my care was unacceptable. You read books to me for hours, biographies of Patrick O Brian, science fiction, and Japanese surrealism, and insisted on holding my hand through every painful medical procedure, every lumbar puncture and all the rest.

Dad you did the same, you cut and polished my nails when the nurses weren't allowed, you devised a way for me to communicate, you went out and bought me boxset after boxset of DVDs to amuse me- CSI:NY, The Mighty Boosh, Bruce Lee films. You were the first one to realise that I could no longer see properly and to alert a nurse. You remembered that I only read the Times, and to buy me a copy of Private Eye for every one I missed.

I do remember that time, though sometimes I pretend I've forgotten. I found the diary you kept mum, during that time, and I read the love that every entry had been written with. I read that if I had died, you think you would have gone mad. And everything that had ever been wrong with our family was fixed then. Every harsh word spoken, every action we'd hurt each other with, was forgiven and forgotten in the knowledge that you both genuinely loved me, that there was no-one in the world who cared for me as much as you both did. So thank you for that. Because I still reckon that it's due to you two that I am fully recovered and well, far more than it is due to the medical profession.

Also Dad on a seperate note thank you for not laughing at me making such an arse of myself a couple of weeks ago. It meant more than I can say, that you hugged me and told me it wasn't my fault, and that you would fix it. Also that you promised not to tell mum!

With all my love

Amberl

P.S. I'd tell you this to your face, but you know me. I'd freeze up, and mumble something stiffly about feeling very grateful, and the impact would be entirely lost. So I hope I show my gratitude and love in the way I act, rather than in what I say


And //shuffles feet// thanks to a particular b3tan as well for some very pertinent help. I don't think I could have written the letter above, as much as a week ago. So cheers for that
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Mon 8 Mar 2010, 11:52, 7 replies)

I cannot say
that "I like this" is the right button to press, but I have done anyway. Humbling to read. Thanks for sharing.
( Undercovercarrot got done for gross misconduct on..., Mon 8 Mar 2010, 12:02, closed)

*clicks*

( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Mon 8 Mar 2010, 12:16, closed)

Please
Just send your parents a copy. Us parents do not need validation but this sort of thing makes it all worthwhile. Miss some bits out if you have to.
(porkylips looks better as the sun goes down., Mon 8 Mar 2010, 12:18, closed)

*click*

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Mon 8 Mar 2010, 16:16, closed)

*click*

( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Mon 8 Mar 2010, 19:07, closed)

click
and send it to them. lifes too short i reckon. maybe i should do the same.
(DreddPirateBob has watched every scifi film ever on, Mon 8 Mar 2010, 20:37, closed)

*click*
Let them know
( fastcar, Tue 9 Mar 2010, 14:17, closed)