A bar of signal that made a difference
Thu Huyen, 2017/11/14
Arizona 11/11/2017. Photo by Thu Huyen
I wonder - if it was you, would you pick up an UNKNOWN phone call?
It all started with an unexpected phone call ringing in the middle of nowhere. Jimmy Huynh (Si Huynh) and I were driving down a winding section through peaks, canyons and a few scenic lakes last Veteran's weekend, Saturday Nov 11, 2017 to be exact. Normally I would only pick up phone calls from the people I know, and even then, it's super hard to take my attention away when I'm in shooting mode or having a camera in my hand. An Unknown phone call on my holiday... while I was enjoying the solitude of vast expanse of Arizona desert, who would dare to call?
The woman voice on the other end seemed distressed, she spoke really fast and her voice faded away. I had one bar of signal on my cell phone, and of course reception was really poor at the time. All I heard was the name Vy Vy Tran and a phone number echoing in the distance. I had to momentarily turn off my phone and call her right back as Si sensed something unusual was going on.
It turned out that very phone call was from Vy Vy Tran's sister. She had been looking for Si Huynh for quite some time now. As she hadn’t been in contact with the camera club at all and with Si’s relocation to Arizona, to her, finding Si posed a huge challenge.
However, she knew Ann Thao Nguyen and asked for help. Thao then gave her my phone number and off she called. As if chance or fate has a role in life, Si was sitting right next to me driving down a very winding road at the time. He slammed the brakes right away and our conversation started. I hastily jotted down the name of medical center and its phone number, and just hope that I got everything right over a broken phone signal.
We had little time and a few people to call. Ban Nguyen was the first one from our club to contact the family and visit Vy Vy at the medical center and then report the news back and forth to us. The event unfolded very fast and we just got the news that Vy Vy had passed away earlier this morning.
Thanks to that one bar on a fateful Saturday - it brought the small PSCVN family together. Some time all you need is one bar and Verizon wireless!