Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 16:38:19 -0800 (PST)

From: "Corinne Parker" <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: Holidays wishes from Thailand

To: "Corinne Parker" <[email protected]>, "Vicki Bringhurst" <[email protected]>, "Dad & Paige" <[email protected]>,  "Gretchen Moore" <[email protected]>,  "Theresa & Sam O'Shields" <[email protected]>, "Branden Parker" <[email protected]>, "Dale Parker" <[email protected]>, "Pattie Parker" <[email protected]>, "Uncle Paul Parker" <[email protected]>, "Lane Randall" <[email protected]>, "Jim Salvas" <[email protected]>, "Aunt Ruth & Uncle Lou Schifano" <[email protected]>, "Matthew Schifano" <[email protected]>, "Aunt Jane Warren" <[email protected]>,  "Chaplin Warren" <[email protected]>, "Uncle Howie Warren" <[email protected]>, "Eunice Baek" <[email protected]>, "Nabil Bejjani" <[email protected]>, "Carol Clough" <[email protected]>, "Monika Dralle" <[email protected]>,  "Rachel Earle" <[email protected]>, "Sophie Evangelidis" <[email protected]>, "Karen Fortune" <[email protected]>, "Jen Fried" <[email protected]>, "Al Furman" <[email protected]>, "Joyce George" <[email protected]>, "Michele Goldberg" <[email protected]>, "Maire Griffin" <[email protected]>, "Francis Henry" <[email protected]>, "Corinne Heyes" <[email protected]>, "Jane Soonyoung Hong" <[email protected]>,  "Stefanie Myers Ito" <[email protected]>, "Christine Kelly" <[email protected]>, "Jason Kent" <[email protected]>, "Michelle Martin" <[email protected]>, "Colleen Mastony" <[email protected]>,  "Diana Norgaard" <[email protected]>, "Leona O'Connor" <[email protected]>,  "Jill Pake" <[email protected]>, "Lucia Palant" <[email protected]>, "George Pandos" <[email protected]>, "Jill Perugini" <[email protected]>, "Al Pucciarelli" <[email protected]>, "Rachel Rivin" <[email protected]>, "Christine Ross" <[email protected]>, "Brian Runk" <[email protected]>, "Jen Sirota" <[email protected]>, "Keith Tringone" <[email protected]>, "GahYan Tsui" <[email protected]>, "Phil Uzunovski" <[email protected]>,  "Megan Wisdom" <[email protected]>, "Be Young" <[email protected]>

 

   

Hello from Sydney, everyone...

 

I am, as I think you all know by now, safe and sound.

I arrived in Sydney this morning. The travels gods

were kind to me...I was on a flight out of Phuket

Airport an hour and half after pitching up. Don't know

how it happened, I know there were hundreds of people

camped out there for what could be days. Flew to Kuala

Lumpur and then on to Sydney. I am very happy to be

"home".

 

I was out on the boat during the whole thing and

frankly, couldn't have been in a better spot. We had

absolutely no idea anything so catastrophic was

happening. Believe it or not, we were actually in the

water when the wave came through. What we thought was

a wicked current was actually the tsunami. I went on

one hell of a white-knuckle ride from about 15m up to

5m in proper amusement park ride style. Being a new

diver, I was petrified...everyone else thought it was

great fun. No worries though and now I reckon I can

dive pretty much ANY current. :-)

 

Don't think I'm making light of a right awful

situation but I'm fine and was the whole time. I can't

even express how grateful I am to have friends and

family like you all. All the e-mails of concern and

then relief were overwhelming. I am so lucky. I think

the worst part of the whole thing was arriving back to

Patong Beach to all the devastation and then seeing

the TV and actually for the first time seeing the

magnitude of the situation. I was in the right place

at the right time. Thank God for that. Send all your

thoughts and wishes now to the people not as lucky

because God knows there are too many.

 

Happy New Year and lots of love to everyone! February

is looking really good now and I don't care how cold

it is!

 

-Corinne.