Posts Tagged ‘family’
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I Just Thought I’d Call To Tell You…
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My mother often begins phone calls with ‘I just thought I’d call to tell you…’ She generally doesn’t have anything particularly traumatic to share. Often the sentence is finished with something along the lines of ‘…that I’ve run out of milk so you should pick some up on your way over if you want a cup of tea’ or ‘…that your sister and her five children will be here when you call in’. OK. That last one is a bit traumatic.
More than once, she has finished the sentence by sharing a birth, death or marriage notice about someone I went to primary school with and haven’t seen for 30 years. Sometimes she is simply updating me regarding some change to her weekly routine.
Every now and then, she throws me a curve ball that keeps me on the edge of my seat for months come. Three years ago, she called me to say ‘I just thought I’d call to tell you that I have breast cancer. I’ll need to have surgery soon.’ Not quite so mundane or unremarkable. (She is in remission, by the way, after successful surgery).
It’s been a while since one of mum’s serious calls, so I was taken by surprise last night when she called and announced ‘I just thought I’d call to tell you that your uncle was shot in an armed robbery’.
WHAT??!?!?
Not exactly the phone call I was expecting and one that is likely to have me bracing myself for some time to come if Mum launches into her favourite opening line.
It all seemed a little surreal last night. I mean, these kinds of stories are on the news but it never seems to happen to someone you actually know. Who gets shot attending the raffles at their local bowling club? It didn’t really hit me until I saw the story on the morning news where they showed footage of my uncle on an ambulance stretcher arriving at the hospital. I saw that and burst into tears.
Thank you so much to the people on Twitter and Facebook last night who prayed for my uncle while he was in surgery and offered words of encouragement. He is now stable in ICU and will remain there for the next few weeks before being admitted to a general ward.
I’ve been trying to think of a message to send to the men who robbed the North Lambton Waterboard Bowling Club last night, just in case they stumble across this post while Googling news updates. I can’t think of anything to write that could convey the grief and trauma that their actions have caused my aunt and uncle, their children and grandchildren and my extended family. What can you say to someone who thinks that they are justified in trying to kill another human being so that their getaway vehicle can’t be identified?
Instead, I want to send out a message of gratitude to those who quickly dialled 000 ensuring the ambulance officers could get my uncle to hospital so that the surgeons and medical staff could save his life. Thank you to the doctors and nurses at JHH for your care and skills. You are heroes.
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This is What Optimism Looks Like
1Have you ever wondered what Optimism looks like? No? Well, I’ll give you a moment so that you can see what you come up with….
*quietly humming The Girl from Ipanema to myself while you think deep thoughts*
So. What do you think? Something in a kind of sunshiny yellow colour? A large smiley face? A glass half full with a side order of just-the-way-I-like-it?
Well, I hate to disappoint you, but this is what optimism looks like:
How do I know? Elementary, my dear Watson!
(see how I worked that literary reference in there? Smooth. Trying to keep in character so that I don’t scare away the Sydney Writers’ Centre Best Australian Blog 2011 judges)
We apologise for that shameless self-promotion. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible…
Sorry. As I was saying. I know that this is what Optimism looks like, because I packed both of these notebooks in my bag today to take on a train trip to Sydney (and back) with my three children and my parents. Yes, I thought that I would have time to make notes for some book reviews, list a few article and blog post ideas, scribble out a To Do list or two and maybe come up with some thoughts on my new blog.
On reflection, perhaps Optimism is a sunshiny yellow smiley face. These notebooks are probably more an indication of what Insanity looks like.
Needless to say, I did absolutely no writing at all, despite spending more than 5.5 hours travelling today. That doesn’t mean that the notebooks weren’t used, however. My 7-year-old son happily took one book during the trip home to draw trains and some weird kind of comic strip about a ball.
The other notebook was used for drawing and playing naughts & crosses (by my 10-year-old daughter) and writing out maths problems (by my 12-year-old son – yes, I know that this is weird. Thanks for pointing it out).
There was plenty of time when the books weren’t in use, but really, why did I think I would have time to concentrate when I had at least one of five people talking to me at any given time, most notably a railway-obsessed 7-year-old who thought that EVERYTHING was fascinating and wanted to make sure that he shared his enthusiasm with everyone else?
Nevertheless, if I had to make the same trip again (which I no doubt will), I will once again pack in my notebook ‘just in case’. You never know when the muse will strike.
So, what do you think? Is packing in notebooks extreme optimism or complete insanity? If you are a writer, do you always have a notebook on hand ‘just in case’?
In an act of complete randomness, I leave you with this rather cute photo (well, to me, anyway) of my mother teaching my daughter how to knit on the train.
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The Ties that Bind
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Today I attended a gathering in memory of my cousin Luke, who would have turned 40 today had he still been alive. He passed away at the age of 13.
I was 8 months younger than Luke, so I was only a child myself when he died. I have very few clear memories of him – a vague image of him relaxing in a beanbag at a family party not long before he died, various images of him having handfuls of tablets at mealtimes and percussion treatment for his cystic fibrosis and one clear memory of the two of us playing Uno at his home, abandoning the number cards and trying to outplay each other using only the skip, reverse, draw two and wild cards.
Attending a memorial gathering for someone you barely remember is odd, to say the least. I also only knew a handful of people there, adding to the overall feeling of disconnection. My parents and sisters were unable to attend for a variety of reasons, so apart from Luke’s parents and sister, three aunts, two uncles and three cousins, I was in a room full of strangers with our only common ground being memories of a young boy I could barely recall.
I’ve spent three hours this evening trying to write this blog, trying to capture my reluctance to attend today and the reasons why I’m glad that I did. I’ve typed and deleted and typed again, trying to find words that convey my sense of awkwardness without judging what my aunt and uncle felt they needed to do to celebrate the life of a child that they got to cherish for such a tragically short time.
And now, at one o’clock in the morning, with drooping eyelids and fingers fumbling over the keyboard, I’m left with one clear image from this afternoon. When I arrived, my uncle greeted me, held me close and thanked me for being there. He held on to me and hugged me tight and I felt like it mattered to him that I was there. We stood together for a few moments, with his arm firmly around my waist and I have to wonder what it has been like for him to watch me grow up, knowing that his son would have been my age. How my milestones and achievements might have highlighted for him all that his son missed out on.
As my uncle held on to me and leaned against me, I was reminded that today wasn’t about me. It wasn’t about what I felt for Luke or whether I even remembered him. Today was an opportunity for me to show my aunt and uncle that their feelings matter to me.
Today I reached that point when the older family members who have previously cared for me and sheltered me are now the ones in need of strength and support. I haven’t been a child for some time, but I’m one of the younger cousins of my generation and there has never been any real reason for me to mentally readjust my status from child to adult when relating with my extended family. Today, I feel proud that I stepped up to the challenge and I feel humbled and incredibly touched that my uncle allowed me to be there for him.
Today didn’t bring me closer to Luke, but it did help me feel closer to my aunt and uncle. I hope that they were comforted and blessed by those who attended their remembrance afternoon for their son.
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Book Review: The Greatest Blogger in the World by Andrew McDonald
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Summary (from Hardie Grant Egmont website)
Charlie Ridge has one small goal in life – to be the Greatest Blogger in the World. The internet has been in a frenzy since a competition began to win the website address www.thegreatestbloggerintheworld.com, and Charlie is making sure he’s the number one contender. Charlie has plenty to blog about – his best mate Phattius Beats, who runs an illegal red-cordial business at school; his little brother, who insists on wearing a tuxedo to kinder; and his number one crush, who is the teacher’s pet and always wears knee-high boots. Oh, and his pet duck, Barcode.
Then some really blog-worthy things happen. When the school mascot is stolen and a multinational corporation tries to take over the school formal, Charlie has his chance to Be the Hero, Get the Girl and Save the Day. That’s got to give him a leg up on the quest to be the Greatest Blogger in the World, right?
Comments
How could any modern kid resist a novel with a central character like Charlie Ridge and a support cast like his family and friends? Andrew McDonald had my attention from the earliest pages with the tux wearing brother and the duck named Barcode.
This is a great book for confident primary-school aged readers, covering the kinds of topics that are very much part of their world – the influence of the internet and advertising, friendships, fitting in at school, feeling misunderstood or overlooked and odd parental behaviour.
Anyone who has seen McDonald’s very amusing pictorial guide to avoiding camera loss or his more recently post on the development of ‘ebrooks’ will not be surprised to discover that the pages of The Greatest Blogger in the World are also brimming with offbeat humour. With clever and witty dialogue and situations, readers will enjoy laughing at and with many of the books characters.
For those parents concerned about such things, there is some disrespect shown by the children towards their teachers and parents. In addition, Charlie’s parents hardly reflect well on busy working mothers or stay-at-home fathers, however the whole book with written with a such an active sense of humour and almost cartoonish caricature of these characters that it is difficult to take them seriously or take offence.
I really enjoyed this book, particularly as it managed to be appropriately funny and engaging for its target audience while still offering a little food for thought for those readers interested in taking something more meaningful away from the story.
Review copy details
Title: The Greatest Blogger in the World
Author: Andrew McDonald
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-92150-223-1, 261 pages)
Suitable age: 9+ years
Genre: Children’s general fiction/novels
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Book Review: Family Forest by Kim Kane
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Summary (back cover)
Families come in all shapes and sizes. Half-sisters, big brothers, step-parents…
While some kids have a family tree, others have a family forest!
Comments
Family Forest approaches complex modern family structures in a very light-hearted entertaining way. As the boy narrating the story explains how his family works, children reading the story learn about step-parents and half-siblings and have a few giggles along the way.
This book isn’t just for children from blended families. My own immediate family is quite simple, but my children’s extended family and friendships include far more convoluted relationships and Family Forest is a wonderful way to help them understand the way other families can be both different and similar to their own.
Family Forest is a lovely, entertaining way to show children that loving families do come in all shapes and sizes.
Review copy details
Title: Family Forest
Author: Kim Kane
Illustrator: Lucia Masciullo
Publishers: Hardie Grant Egmont, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-92156-470-3
Genre: Picture book – family
