In honour of a loving friend

This was on Pintrest yesterday. What an awesome way to honour a friend!

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Happy Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day, is a day to pay tribute to mothers around the world and all that they do. I don’t think that one can truly appreciate the magnitude of a mothers love until one has actually become a mother.

I know my mother has always been one of the most important people in my life, she is my biggest advocate and my voice of reason, she is the reason I worry so much, but also the reason that I care so much.

Through the years I have tested my mother many times. I have pushed her, and caused her much grief, but she has always been there for me.

As the years pass and I face my own challenges as a mother, my mothers influence guides me through this unchartered, for me, course.

In the last year or so I have witnessed my mother become ill on two occasions, both incidents were very scary for me. The realisation that she is getting older is something that I am struggling to come to terms with.

To suddenly see this super woman look so frail and dare I say it old, was like having the rug pulled right out from under me. Fortunately my mum is fine now. She is back to cooking and caring for us all.

Tomorrow in honour of Mother’s Day we are taking my mum out for a lovely lunch by the sea, it’s our way to say thank you for all that she has done and all that she continues to do for us.

So Happy Mother’s Day mummy, and Happy Mother’s Day for all the mums out there in the blogosphere.

Australia Day

Today is Australia Day. My day began with a delicious breakfast at Knox City Council in honour of the Australia Day Awards in the panoramic Civc Room.

Every year people in the community are nominated by their peers for their outstanding contribution to the community. There are four awards given : Local Hero, Young Citizen of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, and Citizen of the year.

Each year I find the candidates seem to get more and more inspiring.

This years Local Hero was a young lady who embarked on a mission named The Brainwash Project in 2012 to create a small magazine that explored the negative impact the media has on body image for young girls. After its success, She launched a petition that asked women’s magazine Cleo to include a disclaimer in their publication to inform readers that some images within the magazine are digitally altered. The petition received more than 20,000 signatures and attracted national media interest. Upon this response, this young lady independently financed a trip to Sydney to meet with the editors of Cleo. Here, they agreed that the Cleo Photoshop Guidelines would be included in every edition from December 2012. She then set out to create her own magazine for teenage girls. In conjunction with more than 100 volunteers, created a 188-page, colour magazine and managed to raise $5,000 to print 300 copies. Her hope is to have the magazine stocked in local schools so that teenage girls have an alternative publication to read that she and her classmates never had.

The Young Citizen of the Year was equally inspiring. She was a year 12 student with Crohn’s disease who has channelled her desire to better the community in a number of ways, including raising funds for important causes. By organising cupcake and milkshake drives—which required many hours of baking in her own time—she raised almost $2,000 for the Cancer Council and Heart Foundation. She has also raised funds for other worthy causes, including the Epilepsy Foundation and Breast Cancer Foundation. She has generated awareness and funds for a number of causes relating to gender issues, including preventing violence against women and White Ribbon Day. In addition she has recently designed a line of water bottles as part of an important project to foster healthy and equal relationships among young people.

The volunteer of the year was a young mother of three, who has been an active member of The Basin fire brigade for more than 15 years. She has also served as an Operational Fire Fighter which requires her to be on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Her desire to educate children on fire safety saw her create the ‘Captain Koala and Friends’ show, which she wrote, directed and performed. In addition to serving both The Basin Playgroup Committee and the Colchester Park Preschool Committee, this amazing lady has also raised funds for a number of charities, including Red Cross Red Shield Appeal, Riding for the Disabled, Animal Welfare Refuge and The Good Friday Appeal.

Finally the Citizen of the Year was an 81 year old gentlemen who has dedicated more than 50 years to sport and athletics clubs in Knox as well as being heavily involved in U3A Knox (University of the Third Age in Ferntree Gully). This man now leads four classes every week, a commitment which requires many hours of daily preparation.

It is very humbling to be around such incredible people who give so much of themselves and their time to our community. I left feeling as I always do after this event, inspired and in awe at such selflessness and generosity.

Goodbye Indie R.I.P

It is with much sorrow that I write this post. Yesterday I learnt that my beloved friend Indie who I have written about before, sadly had to be put to sleep.

I am still processing and therefore do not have a very clear understanding of exactly what happened to Indie, but from what I am told she developed a swollen uterus (kind of like a prolapsed uterus) that was about to erupt at any moment. Surgery was the only option but the chances of her surviving the surgery and the sheer cost of it left my friend with no other option.

I guess I’m still in shock because I only just saw Indie a week ago when we went on our weekly walk and she seemed happy as ever, excited to see me, no sign of anything being wrong. I’m told that she seemed to go downhill a couple of days before Christmas, and that by Christmas Day she was off her food.

I have since googled prolapsed uterus in dogs, but I’m not convinced this is what killed Indie. I guess I will know more when I catch up with my friend in a couple of days. From what I hear the vet that tended to Indie was not very nice at all, I’m sure ill do a post on this in time but today I just wanted to pay tribute to a special soul who experienced so much pain and suffering in her short life, and yet despite this remained kind and gentle, she had even begun to trust people again. It just doesn’t seem fair really does it?

Goodbye Indie, thank you for your friendship, for your affection. I’ll miss our walks and our time together. I’ll miss the funny grunting noises you use to make and the cute way you would hobble over to me in excitement eager to set off on our walks. Rest In Peace my friend.

Happy Birthday Nana

Today is a sad day for my family and I, it is my late grandmothers birthday. She would have been 99 years old today.

My grandmother passed away 23 years ago but not a day goes by that we do not think about her. She was a remarkable woman who raised not only my mother and many of her 65 first cousins, but also my sister, my brother and myself.

Every memory of my life as a child includes my grandmother. When I was sad or scared or troubled she was the one I would turn to. She taught me so much, I think that most of my best qualities come from her. It was her influence that shaped us all.

She was a strong woman with the biggest heart, who was always putting everyone else’s needs before her own.

She selflessly gave up her life overseas to come to Australia to be with my mother and help her and my father raise their children. In a country where she did not speak the language where she had no support network, no friends. She stayed home and cooked and cleaned and took on the role of caregiver to her three grandchildren, and she did this willingly and with so much love and devotion.

I would love to say that we were always gracious and appreciative of all she did for us but the truth is we were not. It is with much shame that I recall many a time complaining about a meal she had prepared, a meal that would have taken her hours to make, and instead of saying thank you I would complain how it was not my favourite.

As we grew up we were able to comprehend just how much my grandmother did for all of us. How lucky we were to have known her, to have had her in our lives. To this day she is still the voice in my subconscious guiding me through life. Whenever I am at a crossroad I will stop and ask myself ‘what would nana do in this instance?’ She had this incredible way of helping you to make the right choices without even realising it. We are all better people because of her. No matter how many years may pass I will never stop loving her, nor will I ever stop missing her.

Happy Birthday Nana XxXx