Hello everyone! I'm Laura, hailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Not quite sure what to say, but I thought it was time after 4 years that I needed to talk. You see, I was at Peggy's Cove on September 2nd, 1998...and even though it's always been a place I loved as a child, I have yet to go back since that week. My thoughts and my heart are never far from the families of those beautiful souls. The first little while after the crash I had a difficult time dealing with how I felt after that night. But as time went on, I thought about it less and less...until september of 2000 when my own son died. It made me understand a bit more how those loved ones of the passengers must feel every day. I also met an amazing man, Dr. Butt, shortly after the accident. For 6 months I looked after his home and his dogs, Benny and Deputy while Dr. Butt was away here and there, helping in any way he could. Seeing that man and his strength helped me feel a bit stronger. I just wish there was more I could have done, some good news I could have shared with others that night. I'm rambling, so I'll say goodbye...look forward to chatting with you all, have a good night.

Laura, I just wanted to welcome you to the site and also to tell you how sorry I am to hear about your son. My heart goes out to you.

Barbara

Thank you Barbara, for the nice welcome...as crazy as this sounds, I feel like I know you just a little bit from reading your personal story in books. I have to say, your daughter was a beautiful young woman and I'm sure she watches over you and your family.
Laura

Laura, you must be referring to Kimber's book in which he interviewed about 4 families following the tragedy. Thanks for your nice compliment about Tara, we really adored her. The loss left a huge feeling of emptiness which unfortunately you are probably familiar with yourself, having lost your son. Again my deepest sympathy to you as well.

Barbara

Yup, it was Stephen Kimber's book...I have had it since it was published but couldn't quite bring myself to read it right through ntil the past little while. And once I started, I read it straight through. If you don't mind my asking, what did you think of the book?

There were some parts of it I wasn't able to read because it was too upsetting, but I thought generally he reported it pretty accurately. I also found him to be a very nice, intelligent person so if it was to be written, he was the right one to do it. I was sorry to see that he left the Halifax Daily News as I even read his columns not related to sr111.

Barbara

My boyfriend is a TV editor and worked with Kimber on a local series a few years back. He says he's a very smart, kind man. I can understand how parts of the book would upset you, I had a hard time with alot of it. One way I dealt with what I saw that night was by talking to Dr. Butt and reading some of his books while I stayed there...I found that by learning a bit more I was able to understand thngs and focus my upset. But I'm glad I got around to reading the book. There were some things in it that angered me, and things that made me cry so hard I would have to stop reading to wait for my vision to clear...but overall I thought it was a very fair, sensitive book. Actually, it was because of that book I came looking for this website...and I'm glad I did

Laura, It's good to have you here.

Barbara

I too sobbed my way through the book - which I took awhile to read.

Stephen Kimber is still in Halifax though, as Dean of Journalism at King's College where hopefully he will help to educated young reporters to be as sensitive as he seemed to have been.

I also thought Rob Gordon and his cameraperson conducted themselves well during that time.

There are so many Nova Scotians who have difficulty with the Swiss Air Disaster and while they have not suffered the loss of life, perhaps our history as a province with so much disaster has made most of us more sensitive and caring to the losses faced by others.

I was also impressed by Dr. Butt who it seems was able to delve into his humanity to help others.

I think everyone in Nova Scotia wished they could do more, we wished with all of our collective hearts we could have rescued everyone on the plane. But there was nothing that could have been done. I've always found that to be the hardest part of life, when there is just nothing you can do to help a situation.

Murray, I don't know that I've read this before. You are a good man.

Barbara