In Heaven :)

I think Dad has managed to side step death and go straight to the good stuff.

He is in Narooma and has found himself a band. Can it get any better?

Below, Mum is watching and seems to be enjoying herself well enough. But I know Dad is loving it. (Check out Mum's foot, she is tapping along)

 Retiring? I don't think so!

If this is Dad's heaven, I wonder what Mum's would be? I have a suspicion that living back in hot, dry Junee and surrounded by the relatives, is Mum's idea of heaven.

There is something admirable and clean and strong about a passion for the country. It isn't an easy love. You have to fight for it.

And she has now-on many occassions. She's not at all fearless. She knows all too well what these fires can cost. And knows there is no knowing what they will do. But somehow I think she almost doesn't approve of the easier climate of the coast. (I am so going to cop it if she ever reads this)

But you know- this loyalty to Junee is what makes her a spectacular mother. It is about 'home' and my whole life is founded on her commitment to it.
How lucky am I to have been raised by someone who loves to have fun; who can be joyful in mowing a green lawn? And by another whose deepest faith is in home and family?

Expectations

Building a new life is very much like building a new house.
You know why you are moving to a new house. You know what was wrong with the old house - and what was right. You know what the new house MUST have to make the move worthwhile and you know where you can compromise.
Or do you?
Sometimes when I was building the new house I would fixate on details that I believed I just had to have.
I just had to have stone benchtops.
It was an agony when I couldn't have them.
It seems ridiculous that it mattered so much now because I love my house without them.
On the other hand there was the cement battle, the downlight battle and the paint colour battle. I put my will against theirs and the outcome was well worth it.
So now I am building a new life and there are things I want for me. But it is hard to know sometimes. Am I being unreasonable? Or in making a new life, should I insist on the things that I believe are priority items?
And what cost will I bear in pursuing them?

And as I sit in a house without my children it is almost impossible to count the cost- so why shouldn't I demand the very most out of this new life?

Old Job

This week I moved across the road from the original job to a new one. I am doing an 'at level' transfer.
Peter, who originally plucked me from retail was moved across to be closer to the engine of things and when the move was confirmed as permanent, he asked if I would join him.

Tricky question. I like the subject matter of MAB. It is challenging. Multiculturalism is tricky: I believe in it - I believe it is right, necessary and unavoidable. I think only the most naive of people think that the world can go back to closed borders.

Maybe some older people can conjure up the 'white Australia Policy' and think it a good thing - but the young? Having grown up on the internet, talking globally every night? I can't imagine that you will be able to convince them that the whole world is not their oyster to live in.

But it is hard for those who want to keep their imaginary Australia, that's for sure! And I have read the most ugly letters from the public - full of hate and fear. Or are they the same thing? I almost wish we could pull back from Multiculturalism when I see how frightened some people are - but to what end? Close Australia's doors and watch the world grow up without us?

In fact it is quite the reverse. Australia is showing the world how to do it. Quite a few counties have put their hands up and  admitted that Multiculturalism had failed for them. But when you scratch the surface you find that what they have called multiculturalism has nothing to do with what we have here.

What we have here is a model for success. Not perfect. Not complete. Not without pockets of hypocrisy. But a working model.

It is challenging. The days of thinking I am a typical Ozzie are limited. (Well typical right up until I open my mouth.) If I am prepared to embrace Multiculturalism and I find that aspect disconcerting, how much worse then for some one who rejects Multiculturalism? How hard is it for insecure, frightened people to no longer be able to hide in the white skin uniform they have been wearing?

.....It's hard not to sound preachy. And my thoughts are not even original.
But it is just nice to acknowledge that I think my old area is doing something very important. And how many people get to say that?

Living in the future

Thank you darling Mark!

Last year I thought he had given me the best gift ever- but I think he may have topped that. In the way a car tops a bicycle.

Christmas this year came when it usually does and caught Mark out, as it tries to every year. So when Christmas day rolled in there was no parcel to unwrap... well it may have got a bit ugly.

But good things come to those who wait- even those naughty girls who have tantrums and feel hard done by it seems.

So this is what he has sent me:

it is me living in the future. I can't wait for the battery to be powered up. I have wished for one of these for ages even when I didn't have a clue what they could do. They just look like fun!

Goody gumdrops!

And a big thank you again and a very public Kiss!