Allisons Tunnel

[fishki]

... like i said in a previous post, i'm not sure i understand life,
but here is the story...

As all of you know I am in construction, I am a superintendent on a historical renovation of the middle school my kid goes to, a 3 story Gothic Revival built in 1922.

A girl that went to that school, Allison, had cystic fibrosis, and she always had to have her oxygen bottle with her. I always waved and said hi to her when I saw her in the hallways, she would smile and wave or say hi back. Deep inside I always felt sorry for her and the childhood she was missing out on.

I always made sure our subcontractors stayed off the elevator if she needed it to get to her classes on the other floors. As the different phases of work progressed we eventually took over most of the second floor, this meant building temporary partition walls so we could demo out all of the old classrooms and keep the students and faculty out of our work area.

The only problem was, Allison still had a class on the second floor in a wing of class rooms behind one of our temporary partition walls, the only access was a set a stairs from the first floor since we had included the elevator in our work area, Allison could not climb stairs.

So I simply put into effect, Plan A. I had one of our subcontractors build Allison her own private little covered hallway from the elevator and connected it to the temporary partition wall that sealed off the area where her classroom was. This enclosure had to be fire rated, so it was constructed with steel studs and 5/8 sheetrock on both sides and the ceiling, this gave a 2 hour fire rating, but only if the joints between the sheetrock was fire sealed, well, since I was building this for an 8th grade girl, I had them use pink fire tape on the joints, I also had the electrician wire in new light fixtures in the ceiling so it would be nice and bright with pink stripes. Mission accomplished.

I built that enclosure three weeks ago....I built it for Allison....we called it Allisons Tunnel...

They told me this morning that Allison died yesterday....

I don't know any details, I couldn't really stay around and listen, I ended up going for a drive, not believing what I had just been told, and the lady that told me was having a hard time talking about it anyway.

For some reason this has affected me in a way I do not understand? Maybe I'm getting old and sensitive, I don't really know. Makes me think about how precious life really is, and how short of time we really have here. And then I think about my own son and how fortunate I am that he is healthy. But on the other hand would I have the strength it would take to raise a child that had a handicap. I do not know.

I do know that I am not a very religious person, but I do hope Allison is in a better place.

And the tunnel... it wont come down until absolutely necessary.

[gabrile23]

Thank you for sharing that fish. It always effects us when see unfare things like this happen to people who deserver so much more. Its really terrible that she never had a chance to live her full life. But im glad and am sure she was to that you took so much effort to make her life better. Even the smile and hello where somthing she could look forward to every time she saw you.

I always think that as long as we keep the people we lose in mind their never really gone.

[twistedblister]

This wont help. Its how I feel. Its just a perspective another set of eyes. We are social creatures. To succeed as such there seems to be an inevitable emotional relation that is created in a cooperative society. You went out of your way to help someone who would have been incapable of performing very simple tasks or overcoming simple obstacles. You took great care and used extra energy and resources then you probably were required to. If it helps I am glad but it might not. For that short time for that little girl you gave her something to feel special about and possibly eased some of the difficulty she experienced on a daily basis. She may not have understood code and material ratings but she probably knew you went out of your way to make her existence that much more bearable. That had to mean a lot to her. Reverse roles and think of how much it would be appreciated if someone helped you. There really does not need to be a religious or moral reasoning to assist someone. If its there fine but I don’t really believe it is a mutually exclusive condition. Death is part of our life. Life is a brutal yet beautiful thing. I sincerely believe we are owed nothing what we have is partially happenstance part achieved by ones own efforts. Your lot and odds and the expectations you may have do a lot with where and to who you were born to. This has sort of rambled away from my intention and sort of become a monologue of my beliefs sorry for that. She affected you by simply existing. You did an extreme kindness for her. I would suggest that earns you some amount of satisfaction to know that you made a difference if even only for a little while. Because time really is relative and so is pain and suffering and joy. What may seem like not enough to you may have been colossal to her. I hope you find some way to take some inner satisfaction from what I am trying to say. I can be awkward sometimes when trying to congeal several thoughts that really touch on one point.

[Drew]

I agree with TB.

its hard sometimes, but I think you did a very nice thing for that girl.

[fishki]

Thanks for the kind words guys...

Still not sure why it bothered me so much but tb, you might just be right.
I made her existence / presence in that school one of my priorities to protect.

During demo work alot of dust is created and we constantly have barriers and air scrubbers in place. I just hope that our work was not a contributing factor.

hare are a couple pics of her little hallway...


As you can see we do make lots of dust, the small nook set into the existing wall on the right side is the elevator, the far end it turns into the wall separating the classrooms in use




Inside looking down toward the elevator which is in the nook on the left

[legendary-pirate]

Very nice of you Fish
I'm sure she is smiling in a much better place now, free of her handicap.

[pineapple7811]

wow fish.

made me tear up, which actually isn't an easy thing to do.

..But im glad and am sure she was to that you took so much effort to make her life better. Even the smile and hello where somthing she could look forward to every time she saw you.

I always think that as long as we keep the people we lose in mind their never really gone.

^this :)