We had been planning to catch up for — whew — almost a year now. Never happened. Something always came up. And to be honest with you, life does get in the way. Colds you don’t want the other person to get, family events that make you fly back home, working your ass off just to survive, or just the simple lack of timing.

So imagine my surprise to see her name on the theatre list where I was working. Even more so, imagine her surprise to see my face the moment she woke up from anaesthetics in Recovery! That was fun. You should’ve seen the momentary confusion in her face like, wtf are you doing here?! I was laughing. Then she turned the tables on me because the first thing she asked me was, “When are you having another baby?!” Followed by a motherly lecture on how Raven needs a sibling because it’s too lonely when she grows up. She reminds me of that every time so I knew it wasn’t the drugs.

For the record, Rosie was also the first patient to ever ask me if she can have her photo taken in the Recovery Room and I didn’t really know if they’re allowed to. Obviously I’m very much on top of our policies and protocols. I review them on a regular basis. And by that, I mean I cross the bridge when I get there.

When I asked my boss, she herself enthusiastically took Rosie’s picture so there you go.

Rosie took a photo of me, too. Not exactly the best pose or the best angle but I remember this day and “hectic” couldn’t even begin to describe that list. It was long, with lots of gastroscopies. Patients were coming in and out like a McDonald’s drive-thru. I was struggling to keep up with the orders just to get the flow going.

But it was all good. The universe found a way for us to see each other after all the cancellations. Upon her discharge, we promised to really catch up. Like, for real. Like we had been trying to for months and months and months.

Two more cancellations later and here we are. We FINALLY made it. She was sick on this day too, poor thing, but you couldn’t tell. She looked gorgeous, as always.

Needless to say, we talked our ears off on this night. She’s a wonderful soul to open up to. I can tell her everything and she’d be there with her wisdom and her experiences, offering you to take them. She’s an amazing, amazing woman. I see her more as a mother than as a friend. As a matter of fact, she is my mum here in Australia.

If the rumours are true that my ancestors from my mother’s side were German, then the line, indeed, has come full circle.

*Raven at 3 years old