A Spring Picnic

To celebrate the last day of the Easter holidays, Julie's hospital unit arranged an outing and invited families to join in.  We met up at an open-air museum, wandered round the exhibits, and then settled down to a big picnic in the grounds.  It was all very relaxed, and slightly anarchic, with plenty of laughter.  Anyone watching us, would probably have us marked down as a bunch of friendly neighbours, with a lot of teenagers and young adults who obviously knew each other very well, a few younger kids and a few older people.

For a few minutes, sitting there in the spring sunshine on the grass, clutching my (rather soggy) ham sandwich, I had an unexpected outbreak of pure happiness.  For the first time since we became involved with the hospital, I had a really strong feeling of being supported.  I had become used to viewing the hospital as a force that tended to break our family unit apart, making it hard for us to spend time together, ignoring our needs and undermining our confidence.  This was why I had so often fought to keep Julie out of hospital.  I was used to an institution that restricted access, gave out little information, and repeatedly told us that we were not capable of looking after our daughter.

This time it was the hospital that was helping me spend quality time with her.  It was giving us the support we needed to really enjoy that outing together. For once, I did not have to worry about her because we were surrounded by experienced staff who knew her very well and could cope with any crisis.  I didn't have to plan the outing, I didn't have to worry about managing risk, and I didn't even have to think about how to extricate ourselves quickly if it went wrong. I could relax and just enjoy chatting, sharing the time with Julie, and thinking about the moment.  I could get to know the staff a bit better in relaxed circumstances, I could meet other patients and their parents, and I could enjoy watching the banter between the teenagers and their carers.

The most amazing thing was, that I did not hear the words "risk" or "safety" used once during the whole outing.