I have family.
My mum’s family all live in Newcastle except for one Aunt
who actually lives in Brisbane and I don’t see her enough at all. I am just slack. BUT I did want to get to Newcastle during my
visit this time and if I didn’t book something this week I was going to miss
out all together again. So with a phone
call to Nan to confirm dates and times I headed down on Monday and returned
back on the Tuesday. I figured 24 hours
was going to be better than nothing at all and I was happy when I finally
processed my payment and had a confirmation from the airline.
It is hard to believe that I only have 2 full weeks left
and then I am on a jet plane out again.
The scary thing is I have no return date in mind at this stage and that
is a first for me and a little daunting.
Tessie keeps asking of I will be back for her birthday in April and she
points out that I was here for Zoe’s this year, so it was only fair. I guess
she has a point, but not even I can promise this year, but I have promised that
I will be back for 2014’s birthday-so if nothing else I have a return date in
16 months, but I certainly hope I will be back before then for a visit.
Shelly and Shane only live 10 minutes from the airport
now that the underground tunnels have been completed and it is just as well as
I thought my flight was at 11.40am but it was actually 11.20am and we were late
leaving as I was trying to load some songs onto my IPod for the trip and ran
into some issues. I’m not a dilly dallier
and once I was through security (had to take off ALL my jewellery) it was only
then when I looked at the departure boards that my flight was boarding and had
a departure time of 11.25am. Holy
schmokes. I had checked in online the
night before and my boarding pass had been text to my phone. This was the first time I had done it this
way as I am used to the email option and having a copy saved to my IPod. When I got to the gate, there were no other
passengers, they had already boarded, but thankfully there were 3 people behind
me also high tailing it, so I didn’t look so bad when I boarded the plane. But when I got to the gate, I had to pop my
phone under a scanner; it scanned my text message code and then spat out a
boarding pass. How cool is that! I have no idea how long that has been around
but I was pretty impressed with that technology! The 1 hour flight on Jetstar was uneventful,
especially since I slept the whole way.
I was knackered.
My 24 hours in Newcastle were well worth the trip. I haven’t seen any of the family since mum
passed away 4 years ago and I know that it is poor form. In my defence I have been away for 2 of those
said years, so it isn’t really as bad as it sounds. After nan collected me from the airport we
made our way to my Aunty Pams for a few hours and I was introduced to my 7 year
old niece and 6 year old nephew for the first time after they had finished
school and I caught up with my cousin David who I haven’t seen for **cough
cough** quite a few years as he has been working abroad. He and his wife actually worked in Africa for
7.5 years in Mozambique, so he said if I need any contacts there or looking for
a job, he still knows a lot of people living there and could point me in the
right direction. How amazing would that
be? I am getting more backup options as
time gets closer to me leaving and I find it re-assuring.
As I was only in town for the night Nan wanted me to see
as many relatives we possibly could so after leaving Aunty Pams we made our way
to Uncle Hugh’s to say hello where I met his girlfriend for the first time. So after a quick drink we were back on the
road to pick up my Uncle Matt to go and have dinner at the Sulphide Club (RSL
club). Once we dropped Uncle Matt at the
pub on our way home from dinner I was then on the phone to my Aunty Gwenda who
lives in Adelaide and I also spoke to my cousin Brad who lives on the other side
of town. Talk about a family rush and
you know what it felt WONDERFUL. Nan and
I spent a girl’s night in watching TV and gossiping, umm I mean getting me up
to speed on all affairs of the family and I can tell you we aren’t the Brady
Bunch-I guess like a lot of families there is the ‘black sheep’, the feud
between members and everything that goes on in a family of 6 plus extended
member. After hearing all Nan’s stories
I think we could make a movie on my family and you know what I LOVE it. Everyone I spoke with today showed interest,
care, love and compassion for me and for what I am about to embark on and that
is what hit home for me. Their
unconditional love and support for me when I must be one of the worst family
members in the history of family members and they don’t care. They see me as their niece, their blood and
they didn’t hold it against me that I haven’t been in touch. It surprised me actually. I have a family, my family, that care about
me and it really was a revelation to me.
So we talked and watched TV until I could no longer keep my eyes open
and I had to leave my 86 year old Gran watching the last of the show and go to
bed. How sad that looks, I know, but I
was absolutely shattered.
Something has to be said about stepping into an old person’s
house. The smell of moth balls and
something else I can’t put a finger on.
It is like stepping back into a time capsule with photos of mum and her
brothers and sisters as they grew up, their weddings, their children, their
children’s wedding and then the birth of the next generation. This I LOVE.
There were picture of my Nan and Grandad on their wedding day and a
small area that had been set up with photos of my mum and some of her
belongings. Time capsule items in the
lounge room also included a cassette tape player, over 100 vinyl records and 50
video tapes to name a few things. The
spare room is filled with books and albums for each of the family members of
things that Nan has collected over the last 40 years. Sound familiar? I always knew that I got the hoarding gene
from my Nan. She has another bedroom
full of ‘stuff’ and she also has the garage and also a small shed out in the
back yard. Oh yes, I got it all from my
Nan-I am going to blame her for my hoarding-well in the old days. I have nothing left to hoard now.
The morning bought a phone call to my Aunty Beth and I
had officially spoken to the whole family, except my Aunt in Brisbane, of all
places. We arranged to have lunch in
town with Cousin David, Aunty Pam, Uncle Steve, Uncle Matt and Nan. We took a spin through the city, as it has changed
so much over the years. I have been
visiting this town since I was 5 years old on and off over the years and the
transformation have been amazing. Being
here this time made me think that I could possibly move here if the option ever
came up. Lunch was right on the river,
with a cool breeze, ships passing, fabulous food and MY FAMILY. As I didn’t have to drive I had 3 glasses of
champagne and helped consume a bottle of white wine before getting an early
drop off at the airport for my flight home.
So it was a flying visit but I am so glad I made the trip and I left my
mums home town with a skip in my step and a family flutter in my heart. I have family and I can’t believe that this
revelation has just hit me now at 38 years of age.
The flight home was an important one. Shelly and I were off to see J-LO, Jennifer
Lopez in concert. My flight arrived back
into Brisbane at 5.45pm, I caught a taxi home and we were in the car heading to
the concert at 7.45am. J-Lo was 35
minutes late getting on the stage, but she was worth the wait as the concert
was AMAZING. She sang and danced her way
through a 2 hour show and had around 5 costume changes and even better we were
allowed to take photos with no flash and I got some incredible pictures that
made us look like we were sitting in the front rows.
So it was a busy start to what was going to be a busy
week. I have 20 boxes to go through this
week that got delivered on Friday and I also need to start my final, final pack
as I need to finalize luggage, unaccompanied bags and emptying my room again
for the third time. Oh yes a busy week
ahead.
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