However, when we arrived, I suddenly felt "museum burn-out" and "too many people milling about burn-out" and was just in a blue funk. I asked Jay if he and the kids wouldn't mind exploring a little without me. They left me at the cafe which was overflowing with people. There weren't enough chairs to go around so many of the younger people were sitting on the ground with backs against the walls. I was lucky to find a seat. The museum cafe has these long picnic-like tables and then these really heavy circular chairs that you can pull up to the tables. It was practically elbow to elbow.
It was probably about 20 to 30 minutes into my "decompressing" moment that the woman next to me started to make these strange sounds. I turned to her and knew immediately that she was choking. Everything went into slow motion. At first, I hoped there was someone that could help her - or - by some miracle she could help herself. However, it became worse. She stood herself up with this terrified look on her face. She layed down on the floor and I could see that her lips were beginning to turn purpley blue. I also noticed (in this split second) that there wasn't a single soul coming to her rescue. My mind began to check all the first aid files and I couldn't remember anything. I went over to where she was lying on the floor and I took her by the back of the neck and pulled her into a sitting position. I began doing the only thing I could think of...I started hitting her on the back between her shoulders with the palm of my hand. Let's just say that I wasn't taping her...I was being pretty forceful. After about the fourth hit, she held her hand out to indicate I could stop. We stayed there on the floor for probably 4 or 5 minutes. I was kneeling on one side and a young woman of about 20 was kneeling on the other side (I think it was her daughter). The young girl thanked me a few times. I couldn't speak. I was so shook up inside. The only thing I managed to say after a few minutes was that I was glad she was alright.
Then, the Lord sent in the troops. Three women (I'm not sure, but pretty sure) of Latin descent came over and began talking to this woman and helping her and a man from the cafe brought her a cup of water. I felt relieved of duty so I walked away. I know this may sound strange, but I was crying on the inside. There were no tears on my face, but inside I was crying because it shook me up so bad. The rest of the evening I just felt strange and this incident didn't help, but I'm glad I could help her and I asked Jay later if he thought maybe I was supposed to be there at that very moment to help this woman.
It made me think about an experience President Monson shared in a talk once. You can read it at this link: https://www.lds.org/new-era/1997/05/save-her-save-her?lang=eng
Needless to say, there aren't many pictures and you'll have to go to the British Museum yourself if you'd like to enjoy it's treasures, but here are a few to whet your appetite:
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| Here we are about to enter. |
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| Don't you love this ceiling? |
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| Here it is, the famous Rosetta Stone! What do you have to say about it? Yes, I know, it is always the same, it sure is smaller than imagined. Why is that? Why does the brain want to make famous relics larger than life? I imagined it to be as tall as an adult person. So funny, well, thanks to Emily, we have this nice picture of it. Apparently everyone else in the museum had to put their eyes on it, too, so it was literally impossible to get close to the glass (unless you are Emily :o). |
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| Close-up of the writing.....wow. |
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| Happy to meet you! You look like an Easter Island fellow. |
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| This reminds me of a typewriter, but I'm sure it probably isn't :o) |
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| These must be the "famous" Lewis chess pieces that were on a poster in the entryway of the museum. |
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| Chess anybody? |
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| I know one thing about Emily...she likes clocks! |
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| must be money....? |
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