BEACH DAY
One of the first days I left the house, I went to the beach. My father had invited me to join him and some of the boys for lunch. Karen had planned her daily shopping spree so that she could drop me off on the way. I remember being embraced in a hug when I walked into the lifeguard tower down at Bondi beach. It was Reidy, my dear running friend. He was my favourite even as a little ankle biter, but I would never admit it to him as he already knew it.
"Oi Hoppo! Your kiddo is here!" Reidy yelled which caused a few laughs and my cheeks turned bright red. Why, I don't know. I was dragged up to the main part of the tower to meet the boys. Hoppo was sitting on a chair chatting with Deano while Jordan and Whippet was rocking the binos watching the swimmers of Bondi. I remember Deano saying "hey there duckling". Something he started calling me when I was a kid and saved a duck from the road. It stuck and I never minded. The amounts of hugs I got before going to lunch could not be counted. It was just what I needed, a bit of Bondi blues.
Hoppo, Deano, Reidy and I went to get sangas at the coffee shop down the promenade. It was nice that they did not put too much focus on me and rather just enjoyed our conversation. Deano told us about his weekend with the wife and kids. They went hiking and little Gus was sitting on Deano's shoulder for the majority of the walk. Poor Deano's back! Reidy shared pictures of him and Winifred, Fred, making fun faces. Safe to say that he is definitely the father and not the mailman. To make things really awkward for me my father shared baby stories with the boys WHILE I was still there. I must had looked like a tomato, cause I could definitely feel my cheeks burning. The worst and the best story were when I was around 2 years old and had "accidently" taken a pair of my father's underwear and put it on my head as a hat. I ran around the entire house and we have way too many pictures of it. We had a laugh and some decent food. It helped me forget about all the bad stuff and I finally for the first time in months enjoyed life.
After our bellyaching laughing lunch, we went to the lifeguard tower. I was stuck there until around 7 when they packed up the beach for the day. Karen had to pick up Lauren from a friends house so we all agreed that it couldn't hurt for me to stay at the beach until my father was ready to go home. After begging for a while, I walked down to the water's edge and sat down, just looking out at the waters movements. Bruce wasn't that thrilled with me being out of reach in case I had "an episode". I knew he was watching me from the tower, but I didn't really mind. I enjoyed the moment and got lost in thoughts while looking at the mesmerizing waves in front of me.
After what felt like minutes, but in reality it was more like a few hours, someone sat down next to me. It scared the Aussie out of me, but when I realised it was Reidy I just smiled. I reckon my heart rate spiked a bit too quickly as I felt the dizziness coming on. Sighing in frustration I put my head between my knees in an attempt to make it go away. I will never forget what Reidy said and did for me in that moment. It went like this:
"Hey kiddo, you alright?" he asked. I mumbled yes and he didn't say a thing. He left only to return shortly after with a water bottle.
"Here you go. Drink some," he simply said and sat back down. I gladly downed half the bottle. We sat like that for a good 10 minutes, no words spoken, just staring at the ocean.
"As much as I love to sit here staring at this beauty" he pointed to the ocean with both his arms. "I reckon we should get you out of the sun before you turn lobster!" he laughed, and it made me smile. His positive energy touched everyone who ever met him. Such an inspiration that man is. He did not make it about my recent diagnosis, which sadly a lot of people had been doing, but he just stayed himself. Always concerned about the kids getting burned in the scorching hot Australian sun. Freddie is a lucky little girl with the most amazing father. Second after mine of course. Nothing beats the "Hoppo magic".
The rest of the time I used in the shadowy tower. I was on lookout for potential rescue victims by using the extra bino's. I spotted a swimmer on the north side of the beach and alerted Whippet next to me. He called it over the radio and Reidy bolted out of the rhino and into the water. Luckily it was an easy rescue and the man being hauled out of the water was okay. I got a call over the radio from my father saying: "Good job Daisy". It made my day even better. Just because I no longer could be a medic, did not mean I no longer could help people. I realised that on that specific day and I have never forgotten it since.