As a little girl I had two ambitions.
I wanted to be a teacher and a mother.
I taught lower primary children, in town and country, for many years and loved them all.
To be a mother
I married Colin on my 20th birthday and become a mother to Tim at age 22, then Sarah at age 24.
2 +1 = 4
We had a few house moves and one day remembered that the reason we had moved to a bigger house was to have more children. So imagine my delight when the next child turned into twins.
My children were the delight of my life. Now they’ve given me four grandchildren and my joy is renewed.
A new dream
In my early fifties I became interested in helping women in our church women’s group and that led me to study for my Masters Degree in Counselling. Colin always said he wanted to date a University ‘chick’ but didn’t think she’d be 53.
I love helping people get unstuck.
Wonderful holidays
Colin is a professional speaker who has travelled to many interesting places in the world. I had the privilege to accompany him on many trips. We danced the waltz in Vienna, watched (with a little horror) a demonstration bull fight in Portugal, ate scones with jam and clotted cream in Oxford, heard the story of a ‘witch’ burned at his biscuit factory in Nigeria, and were serenaded in a gondola in Venice to only name a few.
My experiences are rich and varied.
I’ve seen pyramids, cathedrals, temples and palaces. I’ve been inside The Vatican, Buckingham Palace, The White House and the King of Thailand’s Palace. I’ve travelled by plane, train, boat, camel, elephant, raft, hot air balloon, gondola, ferry, luge, sky lift, ski lift and ordinary lift to the top of the Empire State Building.
In 2012 we went on a study tour of Egypt, Jordan and Israel. We went into a pyramid, climbed Mt Sinai in the dark to see the sunrise, visited Petra, sailed on the Sea of Galilee, ate Peter fish, prayed at the Western Wall, bought a nativity scene from the town of Bethlehem and cried all through the Holocaust Museum.
I have so much to be grateful for.
Emigrating is no holiday
Visiting another country and experiencing diverse cultures is different from emigrating. After selling the family home, our possessions, and giving our dog and cat away to good homes we moved to USA in 1989. We were promised opportunities that never happened. I know what being stuck is. We had lived off our savings waiting for all the ducks to line up but they never did, which meant we couldn’t get a green card to work. We were stuck in another country with no money and no prospects. And it was a cold winter in more ways than one!
De-emigrating is no fun either
When the call came that Colin’s mother had died we put our airfares on credit card and came home. Our family of six had to start again only owning one suitcase each of clothes and a few trinkets.
I know what it feels like to crawl back out of a giant hole. I know what it takes to get unstuck.
Today I treasure family and friendships. I spend a lot of time meeting people for coffee (Colin would say too much time).
Love language
One of my love languages is quality time. I choose spending time with people over cooking, cleaning, exercising and shopping ( Hmm I might rethink that one). I read books on counselling and self-help books. I love watching movies and eating chocolate. And as I said before I delight in my grandchildren and spend as much time as I can with them while they’re little because they will grow up soon and Grandma will be obsolete.