Bend Or Break

Inspiration sometimes comes in the weirdest forms.  A movie, a book, a passing phase or indeed a passig phrase.  For me inspiration usually comes from my family and friends. The people I love and respect inspire and encourage me to try new things or just give me the push to do the things that I need to that might be hard.

My parents are a great source of inspiration.  I love to listen to Dad tell me stories about the stuff he used to do as a young man and a kid growing up in the depression of the late 1920s early 30s. That was when life really was tough, not just "oh God the internet has crashed again" tough.

Dad tells me the story of his younger brother, Jim, who didn't have a pair of shoes until he was 8. Dad said he had feet as "hard as the hobs of hell".  I asked Dad once if he knew how hard the hobs of hell were and he said that yes, he did cos he had been there.

 No doubt living through a world war, a depression the likes of which one of our recessions seems like a garden party and bringing up a family of 6 children, one does see the tough side of life and the struggles that can be associated with keeping your family fed and together. I think Dad is well accustomed to bending. He must be because in all my life, I have never seen him break.

It's only when I look back on my younger days that I realise, we are all tougher than we think.  We have all had times that we have had to bend or break.

The last time that I made a really big move like this, I was only 21 and had a 10 month old baby boy.  My husband, Keith (the children's father) and I packed up our little maroon Sigma and drove to Canberra right before summer to make a new life for ourselves.  Goodness, we are doing it again insummer, what's wrong with us -LOL!!

Anyway we did it.  With hard work we succeeded;  we built our own home there and had two more babies while we lived in the
Nations capital.  We had a good life and  stayed for nearly 7 years.  It was family that brought us back to Tassie. No doubt the same drawcard will make us return this time.  Probably sooner than 7 years but that is the unknown at this stage.

The first few months in Canberra were hideously hot, no air conditioning then.  I used to fill a big round plastic tub with cold water and sit baby Jonathan in the dish on the front verandah and we would go to the pool a lot too.

I went back to school to get my matriculation so I could persue nursing (that's another story) and a couple of days it was so hot, they sent all the students home. I think once it gets above 40 they used to close the schools.

So in that time, we became quite accustomed  to learning how to do things differently. I looked forward to getting  a letter from Mum every week and only occassionally  a phone call, it cost too much back then to make STD calls very often.




Mum had always been a bender. She had made her life doing things that people might have said she couldn't.  I know she certainly used to rock my Papa's boat by being a headstrong young woman and that determination allowed her the strength to do remarkable things.  Well they are remarkable in my mind.

 Mum was a Land Army Girl during the second World War and worked on farms in northern Tasmania.  Ploughing paddocks, putting in crops, looking after hens and walking from Sasafrass into Devonport on her days off. Dad and Mum married in December 1945 and through hard work they had a good life together and made one for us kids as well.

 Mum went back to work when I was 2. She worked as a nurses aide in an "old folks home". Most of my young life she worked night shift while being very active in charity work for disabled children. Mum was a fabulous cook, always making cakes and meals for other people, not just the family; she was a sewer, a knitter - making lots of our clothes when we were little. She may not have been the best of housekeepers, our place was clean, not spotless. But I would rather have had a trip to the beach when she got home from work than a dust free zone!  She was a contestant in Woman Of the Year and maintained beautiful friendships with three equally inspiring women.  I
will write a post one day about Shirley, Faye and Lorraine. They deserve a post of their own :)

I could write all day about my parents and how wonderful I think they are.  How their hard work, love for their family and their dedication to making the best of things, enriched all our lives. I like to think that their example made us all hard workers too; people who know the value of having a loving supporting family.  Their life was an example and an inspiration to us regarding the true meaning of what a
successful life is. More importantly how to know when you have achieved that.

For myself, I already believe that I have acheived that.  Please God don't let it happen yet, but if my life was over today, I have succeeded.  I have a given three fantastic children to this world and they have served it well already. I am proud of the young man and women that I have left here as a legacy. They are smart, kind, caring and mindful young people. They are loved and are loving in return. They are a joy to those around them. They think about people other than themselves.

I have worked hard in my  jobs and tried to make the people I come into contact with feel at ease and welcomed.  I may not have always been successful  at that , but I have tried. I have cherished my husband and been a partner to him in all things. I have no real regrets. Well only a few tiny ones, again another story.

For this reason alone, we have nothing to lose by marching into this next phase of our lives, nothing at all, not even time. Time will be spent where ever we are, it will not stop for us or anyone else,  so we may as well do it anyway.

It will be hard, it will be lonely at times, we are going to miss our family and friends.  We have their love and their support though and that means a lot.

 We will bend and not break because that is our way. That is they way we have been brought up to do things. That is the inspiration that I want to be.