I was born in Kogarah, in Sydney at St George Hospital. My parents had married very young and had already separated by the time I was born.
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My biological mother and I left hospital and went to live with her parents. We had not been there very long when she went to the movies one night, leaving me in the care of my grandparents. I don’t remember seeing her again until I was 12. My grandparents became my Mum and Pop, and my life.
My earliest memory is being carried into the lounge room of our Narwee home to see that Santa had delivered a 6 ft high silver Christmas tree. Looking back, it was probably the most gaudy tree ever made, but to my 2 year old eyes, it was pure magic.
Pop had served in the Middle East and Papua New Guinea in WWII and had suffered ill health for most of his life after that. He passed away when I was 7, and Mum sold the house where she had lived her whole married life and we moved to Chester Hill, where I completed my schooling.
I met my first husband at the local Baptist Church Youth Group. We married in 1981, and our son Adam was born in December 1982; followed by Alanna 11 months later, in 1983. I was told I would not be able to have any more children.
My then husband was in the RAAF and we moved constantly, but it was a fairly comfortable life as I had always enjoyed going to new places and meeting new people. Unfortunately, his career meant that I could not establish myself in any workplace; my resume looks like a phone book!
Life threw a bit of a ‘curve ball’ at me in 1999, when after a long and very serious illness, I discovered I was pregnant again. Annalise was born in 2000 (No, the ‘A’ thing was not intentional) and became my main focus as Adam and Alanna were nearly adults.
In 2002, my husband and I decided to call it quits, and for a while I was a bit lost. I decided to move to the country, as I wanted Annalise to learn about living in a community
I bought my house in 2005 and although I have moved away a couple of times for work and schooling, Harden is my home. I have lived all over Australia, but it is here that I feel safe and accepted.
I met my husband Dale, when Annalise went to work for him. She liked him immediately and decided to play matchmaker. We married in 2016 at the Terracotta Restaurant and for a short while, life was perfect.
Just two weeks after our wedding we learned that Adam’s 3 year old daughter Annabelle had been diagnosed with DIPG and had been given only months to live. Thanks to the generous people of Harden, she has undergone treatment in Mexico and is still fighting. Thank you Harden for giving us hope and support.