Family is Forever

Part 89- Do Widzenia

The weeks in Poland flew by. And Ali was eating well. They had day trips to Kraków, the salt mines at Wieliczka and the Tatras mountains. Ali's friend Roksana invited all of Ali's old classmates over for a party. And all too soon it was the day that they were due to leave. Josef took Dziejek aside.
"Maciej, may i talk to you? I would like to ask you how you would feel if I was to ask Klaudia to move in with me? And if that was a success after a while to marry me?"
"Josef," dziejek replied "I am glad that you have asked me, you are a respectful man, but it is not up to me, the only person you need to ask before Klaudia is Natalia. The men shook hands. Josef knocked on Ali's bedroom door "come in. Hi Josef."
"Do you mind if I sit?"he asked pointing at the rocking chair in the corner of the room. "Or we can talk downstairs if you prefer?"
"No feel free."
"Natalia, I would like to ask you something. And it's okay to say no.. I would like to ask your mother to move in with me. And perhaps if co habiting works for us to ask her to marry me. I know you have had issues with your mother's partners before. So I understand if you don't feel comfortable."
"Josef. I didn't like mums other boyfriends because they were rude, disrespectful and violent and they made my mum unhappy. Although she couldn't see that. Basically they were abusive. You are not any of those things. You make my mum happy and that makes me happy. And thank you for asking me." She stood up as he did and hugged him. He was shocked as Ali had never hugged him before. "Go ask mama, and enjoy."

All the family were in Babcia's house to see Ali, Klaudia, Josef, Zosia and Ollie off. " Do Widzenia Goodbye," Ali said to Wiktor and Lucasz in turn as they each kissed her cheek. She picked up Kasia, "I'm going to miss you little one." She said and little Kasia's eyes filled with tears. "I wish that i could come to England with you. I don't want for you to go."
"Hey little one, your mama said that she might bring you to England in the summer, and you know you can ask your mama, or Babcia or your brothers to FaceTime me. And you can't come to England I need someone to look after all my toy animals." Ali kissed the top of Kasia's head and wiped the tears off the little girls cheeks. Dziejek kissed Natalia's head "my sweet Natalia, we miss you so."
Babcia looked at Ali her eyes filled with tears. "You must promise me that we will talk or FaceTime at least once a week." She told her granddaughter. "Of course." Ali replied.

Ali's eyes filled with tears as the plane took off from her beloved motherland. She was sat by her mother who she hated crying in front of, so she hastily blinked the tears away and plugged herself into her music from her smartphone.

Ali was subdued when they returned from Poland. "You know what?" Ollie asked Zosia and Ali after a good dinner "You've got a bit of a Polish accent since coming home Zosh. And your accent has got stronger Ali." They laughed "My mama used to say that whenever I got home from holidays in Poland. She'd call me her little Polska dziewczyna, that means Polish girl. We'll be back to normal tomorrow."

The next day Ollie and Zosia we're back at work and Ali back at day treatment. When she was weighed Ali was shocked at her weight gain but the clinicians were thrilled. "Poland has been good for you Natalia." Ben said.
"I had a period last week in Poland." Ali told him.
"That's brilliant." Ben said "that's your body saying it's healthier. You're almost at a healthy BMI."
When they were back in the group room and it was her turn to speak about her weight Ali started "my weight has increased a lot, and as you know I've been away, I went home to Poland and a lot happened." She summarised the enjoyable time she'd spent with her family then her tone changed. "I saw my old best friend Roksana, I saw her family at church and we talked after. I asked where her older sister Oliwia was, she used to take us to school sometimes, Roksana told me that Oliwia had died of an eating disorder. And that shocked me but I made me think. I don't want to die, I used to, but I don't anymore. So I need to eat. So I can live a full life." She smiled wryly. "So yeah, that's been my last few weeks."
After lunch when Ali was doing school work with Imo the emo, who she still didn't really like and a sweet 14 year old called Faith. Ben asked her to come for a chat. "We're all really pleased with how you're doing Ali, you've been here a while now and as I said earlier, you're almost weight restored. I think it's time to think about your return to sixth form."
"Really?" Ali asked
"How does that make you feel?"
"I'm not sure, mixed emotions. A bit excited, but a bit scared too. I still struggle sometimes."
"You know we try and tailor returns to a particular person's situation. We will do a slowly phased return for you. And even. When you're back at sixth form full time. You will still be seeing a clinician here once or twice a week for continued monitoring and CBT-e. We will contact the school. Who was it that you said was helping with school work?"
"Agata Yates, she's a language teacher."
"Yes. I remember she's been a brilliant support to many people we have had here. Can you talk to Zosia and Ollie and see if they are free either before or after they drop you off this week. Preferably both of them."