Three...

Here's the first photo of our three babies...Sienna, Grace & Harrison. Am so looking forward to my trip to Melbourne to see them next month. All is going well.

Did I Overreact...???

Matilda went out shopping with a friend yesterday. As far as I knew she was getting the train to her friend's home then her friend's Dad was driving them to the shopping centre.

When she got home she mentioned that her friend (who turned 16 on 29th March and sat for her Learner's Permit test the following day) had driven them to the shopping centre. This was only the second time she had been behind the wheel.

I'm afraid I reacted badly, I was quite horrified that her friend's father would consider taking Matilda in the car with his (brand new Learner )daughter driving. He may well have faith in her ability but I don't...how can a 16 year old learner driver with less than 2 hours driving experience possibly react well to situations other drivers put her in on the road...??? It's not like it is a quiet route either, it gets quite busy.

I have spoken to Matilda and after my initial reaction explained why I felt as I did and said that at no time was I happy with her being in a car with such an inexperienced driver and that it wasn't to happen again.

I have to take her to her friend's party this evening and am going to have to make my feelings felt to her parents, not really looking forward to that but they are very reasonable people so it should be okay.

Did I overreact..??

Thoughts please...

Waiting Anxiously...

t's 4.00am and I am wide awake. Since being in hospital my sleeping pattern is all over the place. I find myself awake at 3.00am and not being able to get back to sleep until about 6ish. It's easier to get up and do something quiet than toss and turn and wake John.

Easter was quiet for us...we didn't go away but instead chose to spend time at home on a few projects around here...renovating the kids bathroom for one. At Easter my thoughts always turn to camping and Mount Beauty (Victoria)...we used to camp with extended family & friends every Easter, the "gang" got bigger each year and "drinks" at 5.00pm around the fire were the best place on earth to be. It's God's Own Country up there and
the most relaxing holiday I ever have.

But I digress...or maybe not...

In the year before I moved to Queensland I let a much valued friendship slip through the cracks. I wasn't the only party at fault, there were events that transpired in both our lives that led me unable to offer the support my friend L. needed as her marriage fell to pieces around her. As time has passed it has become harder and harder to make contact.

The situation has been bothering me for three years now and over Easter I decided that it was time to try and "fix" it. I wrote to L. on the weekend...not an excuse but more an explanation of how things crumbled and an apology for my part in letting our friendship slide. I'm hoping that it can be somehow rescued...hopeful for forgiveness and reconciliation and a chance to rebuild.

L. and her family camped with us at Mount Beauty...they still camp there every year and have contact with my family. I was asked to be "Fairy" Godmother to her youngest son, a role I took on with the commitment necessary to fulfil it well. I feel so badly that I have just slipped out of their lives.

I wrote, then sat on it for a few hours. A little later I went back, edited, printed and posted it immediately. Had I let it lay around I would have found an excuse not to post it.

I'm waiting anxiously now, knowing that L. would have received it by yesterday, wondering what she made of it and how she will respond. I'm travelling to Victoria next month...my great wish is that L. will want me to visit, can find it in her heart to forgive and that we will be able to somehow put things right.

I have done my bit...the waiting is killing me. I am not, by nature, a very patient person.

Reunited...

I have been sitting on a “good news story” that has happened within my family for a little while now and now need to get it out there.

I have a brother, Mitchell, who is three years younger and two sisters, Cate & Sally, six and eleven years younger. Many years ago (25 in fact), there was a family misunderstanding and my brother left home and went to work interstate. Time passed and it became apparent that he no longer wanted anything to do with my Mum & Stepfather and by default his sisters too.

This was agonising for my Mum…her son was out there in the world, 18 years old and on his own. We had a general idea where he was and what he was doing but really knew nothing of his life…this was how he wanted it. My guess is that as years passed, it became harder to resume contact with family…before we knew it, 20 years had passed. I don’t think I wondered about him quite every day but certainly several times a week he was on my mind.

Last year I had a bit of an estrangement with my family, nothing permanent, but I was definitely on the outer for some months. I constantly thought of Mitch, knowing how awfully lonely it was not being able to just pick up the phone and say hello, wondering if how I felt was how he had felt. There was also an inheritance due his way, a gift from our grandparents…I felt he should have what was his entitlement.

Soooo…

I decided to try and find him. I enlisted the help of a cousin, someone Mitchell had grown up with and very much admired. He agreed to be the go-between. I placed a couple of ads on internet billboards and could not believe my luck when I had a response on the very same night I posted. A woman answered my ad and said that he was last living in a small town in South Australia. Quite unbelievable.

My cousin Neale took over and did some amazing detective work. He contacted several people from the town, including the publican and general store/post office owner. His concern was taken very much as genuine and these people were very helpful in directing him where to look next. He was also able to make out that these people thought very well of Mitchell and cared for him a great deal.

His search led him to a trucking company in NSW…we had known that Mitch was an interstate truck driver, so this made sense. Neale was able to speak to a supervisor there who eventually let on that Mitchell would be there at 10pm if he wanted to call that night.

Neale called and they spoke for a short while…they then continued to communicate over the next few weeks via phone. Eventually the inevitable rose…”What did Mitchell think about having contact with his Mum..??”

He thought about it and in the interim Mum wrote to him.

A short time passed and then quite out of the blue I get a call from my sister, Sally. Did I know where Mum & John were..?? Mitchell had phoned her, he was in Melbourne taking care of the legal will stuff and he was going to drop in on them, but they were nowhere to be found.

There was little time; Mitchell and his partner were flying out in a few hours. Eventually we tracked them down and the sped off to the airport for the reunion. It was sweet, very sweet…I haven’t heard Mum as happy as she was that night. They have had lots of contact since then and recently Mitchell & his partner came down for the weekend and spent almost all of it with the family, including a night out with Neale & his family.

I spoke to him on the phone, it was good to talk…I hope to catch up in person soon.

Here are a few pics from that weekend…they are just snapshots but such happy ones, too happy not to share…

I’m hoping for a huge family gathering next Christmas…

BTW...is Blogger being a bitch for anyone else this morning...???