Looking round our Christmas dinner table, with its nineteen guests, reminded me of the photos of Gwenda and Pat’s Christmas Day in Cleveland. The pair cooked dinner for over thirty friends, most of whom, like them, were far from home that year – fellow nurses from Britain, Ireland and other parts of Europe, a handful of doctors, too, and students from all over the world who belonged like them to the very active international students’ group which organised so many of the activities they took part in.
Everyone did their bit. Tony from Lebanon proved to be a dab hand at decorating the tree, Enrique (originally from the Philippines) carved the two turkeys, Herman helped to prepare the apartment the night before, borrowing chairs, shifting furniture and lending a hand the way he always did. The dinner was hosted in two sittings to allow some of the nurses to go on duty, while Pat and Gwenda themselves had to work that night as usual.
As their friends left the apartment, several of them declared that they would remember that Christmas for the rest of their lives. I wonder where they are now, and if they still think about it the way Gwenda and Pat still do.
As the new year approaches I would like to thank everyone who has supported us in 2011 and to wish you all a very happy 2012. I hope to be posting again very soon with some more news.
Bedpans & Bobby Socks 