Goodbye Leggie Loo

What a gorgeous day! Tara's Goodbye Leggie Loo party was sooooo lovely - happy, fun and filled with lots of photos and videos of Leggie Loo. Very celebratory. Heaps of lollies, fudge and other stuff like champagne and OJ too! The kids were all great with Tara - talking about how they'll miss Leggie Loo but that they can't wait for Tara to be able to jump. And while the others swam Tara opened one of her many presents and made some fab necklaces (thanks Marnie!) that doubled as great handcuffs. Many, many phonecalls and messages. THANKS EVERYONE!  Background music playing in one's head today is 'Goodbye Leggie Loo, tho' we had so many great times, it's time to say...', sung to the tune of Elton John's 'Goodbye Norma Jean'.

And then we packed up in a HUGE rush and headed off to Brisbane. No rain - wow! The only crisis all day was that Jadie jumped out of the car when we got here, and landed on some broken glass. A TINY cut...but the poor thing cried SO much, and sobbed that she wished she could be Tara or Cassie because they didn't have her pain!

Dinner tonight could not have been more perfect. Went to Gela's house - one of those beautiful old schoolfriends who you wish you could've gotten to know better at school, and then you get lucky enough to live in the same country! Well, Gela not only cooked a DELICIOUS dinner (actually - she cooked and packed enough dinners to keep us fed for the next week!) - but she also had a beautiful idea - for Tara to begin a quilt of her journey with her new leg. And so it began tonight with a goodbye to Leggie Loo. It was so beautiful watching Tara and the girls - as they became consumed with painting Tara's foot (actually feet because 'Big Foot' got a look in too) and pressing her toes against the fabric to leave footprints that'll last for eternity. Tara just blossomed. It was the perfect avenue she needed to express everything she was feeling. (She wrote: "Dear leggie loo, Happy Easter. I love you. I will miss you a lot. Thank you for teaching me things. You are lovely. Bye!!! Love Tara.") And even tho' Jadie was reluctant at first - both her and Cassie LOVED the experience (so much so that they wrote Gela a secret 'thank you' note that they hid in her fruit bowl to suprise her). Gela was meant to keep the quilt (it needs cutting up etc.) - but Tara so wanted it now and for tomorrow - that we let her bring it home - and she's now tucked up in bed with it wrapped around her. After prayers tonight, we all got to kiss and stroke Leggie Loo for the last time. And we made sure tonight we all talked about how much we love Tara and that even without Leggie Loo - she'll still be Tara and we'll still love her just as much. (Altho' we're now thinking that really it's just a part of leggie loo that's getting cut off - and maybe, really, we're keeping leggie loo!)

As soon as we know what ward Tara's in - we'll post it on the Blog. Our mobile phone access may be limited (hospital restrictions) - but we will be updating the blog and we're always available on email.

So that's it. Almost the end of a fantastic chapter of Tara's life - and hopefully the beginning of a brand new exciting chapter that's just as fantastic! Thank you so much to everyone for taking this journey with us. And one last time: Goodbye Leggie Loo! (Picture below was Tara's idea - she LOVES flower petals!)