Yesterday was the 8th anniversary of my mother's death. She died peacefully with one of my brothers, me and our dad there. My other brother had just flown to NZ for work and tried to get back in time. He rang to say he was at the airport about to board a flight. Mum was unconscious by then but I put the phone to her ear. She died 10 minutes later. It's as if she needed to his voice.
50 years ago on the 21st of this month we arrived in Australia. I haven't left the country since and I have no desire to other than to visit NZ.
Next year Himself and I will have been married for 45 years. A lot happened in those 5 years between 15 year old me arriving as a well spoken pom who had no idea what people were saying half the time (Australian slang was weird!) and 20 year old me who quickly lost the accent (but can still bring it out if necessary) getting married to a divorced bloke with a 4 year old son.
Today I went with Amy to the doctor's appointment for Alice's tongue tie release. I wasn't allowed in (covid covid covid covid) so waited in the car. She came out not long after nearly in tears. The tongue tie wasn't the problem. Alice just prefers a bottle cos it's less work. So I gave the little moppet a bottle while Amy went and talked to Three and her mum. We will try one more strategy and then at least Amy can say she did her best. Honestly, I think too many people have too many fingers in the lives of new mums. They get conflicting advice and dare not trust their own instincts.
The bloke has patched our ceiling and given it one coat of paint. He looks as if he should still be in high school but that's more a reflection on this old biddy.
The internet finally got sorted (it was an issue that our "landline" didn't work) and literally 2 minutes after getting it fixed the phone rang and it was the aunt. Her timing was spot on. She is the only one that uses the number (and scammers and political nuisances). Once she shuffles off we shall get rid of it.
I am off to weave.
My partner arrived about the same time, maybe a year earlier. We are behind you, us having been together now for 42 years. When he speaks to English relatives on the phone, he returns to Geordie, although still understandable to me.
ReplyDeleteYou've made me think how medical, health people and care people were and perhaps still are involved with my niece and the upbringing of her twin daughters.
For some reason our landline has stopped receiving nuisance calls. The only person who rings our landline is my mother. It would not be hard to get her to call our mobiles. The landline costs us nothing, but then we don't use it either.
42 years is a bloody good effort considering the throw away attitude so many seem to have to relationships these days. We say we are too lazy to change! He's alright though so I will probably keep him.
DeleteI think the care people get today is great but it is very prescriptive and parents aren't given credit for something that has happened for ever without all these specialists.
Now we have the landline back it doesn't stop. I am thinking of telling the aunt it's broken and get her to ring my mobile and I can call her straight back.
So many people undervalue mothering yet they all have opinions on how it should be done
ReplyDeleteEvery mother and baby have their own way of doing things and all are correct
We unplugged our landline because all we got were the annoying calls from overseas.
Don’t miss it at all
Angela, that is so true. Poor Amy is bombarded with conflicting advice from every direction. Alice likes to sleep on her stomach or side - needless to say that she doesn't sleep well as 'SHE HAS TO BE ON HER BACK'. When my kids were little we were told not to put them on their back.
DeleteI had a call today and I couldn't understand what the woman was saying at all other than Victorian Government. I hung up.