a farewell to pa and a trip to the aquarium

my timmy is so wonderful.

wednesday was my birthday. i turned 25. this birthday was set to be different from ones past.

last thursday the 19^th of july, my beautiful pa (dad’s dad) passed from this life into the next. my nan and one of his daughters were by his side. he had lived a long full life. married for 62 years and in love to the last minute. my pa had severe dementia for the last 8 years of his life. in the last few years, the only person he recognized without doubt was my nan. it would appear that he was completely lost – vacant and then he would see nan and kiss her and call for her. my nan and pa have 62 family members as a result of their 62 years of marriage. love survives all.

his funeral was held on my birthday the 25^th of july. the church was full of those who knew and loved him. my dad gave a beautiful eulogy, smiling through tear filled eyes as he spoke of his strong, loving father who, like many of his time, worked two jobs to provide for his family but was still found at every single sporting event of his seven children, cheering them on.

the service was special and the day was beautiful.

i miss my pa. 

timmy knew that my birthday would have a different feeling to a normal birthday and so he made sure that the day was still special for me. roo started off the special day by only waking once in the night and waking up at 8am! while I was still sleeping timmy went to our favourite bakery and came home surprising me with a breakfast of chocolate macarons, chocolate and raspberry tart, chocolate truffles, a massive lamington and the biggest chocolate meringue you have ever seen (beef bourguignon pies were being kept warn in the oven as well). after feeding roo while munching on delicious chocolate treats in bed, I came out to find a smorgasbord of magazines and a beautiful birthday message on our chalkboard wall.

my family brought presents and beautiful cards from the littles. i was spoilt.

yesterday we went into the city. first stop was the mca (museum of contemporary art) my favourite gallery. we saw some aboriginal woven hutches for babies, to protect them from the elements, amazing drawings, prints and installations. roo loved the bright coloured works on the wall – I have a feeling this boy will grow loving that place. next stop was some incredible sushi in darling harbour. we ate ourselves through $65 worth of $3.50 plates (do the maths and that’s a lot of sushi for two). then to the guylian café for a chocolate praline mousse gold thing that was delicious but completely over-priced. then ummed and ahhed our way to the aquarium, which also seemed over-priced but ended up being completely worth it. amazing to stare at all those incredibly diverse beautiful creatures and marvel at their creation. next stop a bit of maccas and a feed for the roo.  then on home we went (via a shop to pick up his and hers vans).  

i must admit doing all those things with a baby wasn’t the easiest thing ive ever done but it sure wasn’t too hard either. roo smiled his way through the day only really losing it when the over-tiredness hit at the start of the aquarium and then again at maccas but, both times he was quickly soothed once he was in our arms and all was well again.

timmy made both my real birthday and the day after, ones i will cherish for the rest of forever. i just want to be with him. when i am, i’m the happiest. it’s as simple as that.

timmy and roo – the best boys in the whole world. my heart is full.

thank you timmy for making me so happy, everyday. every single day.

he is the flippin' cutest baby ever! he's killin' me!

29 weeks and a uni graduation

i am officially a university graduate.

i was not a good school student. i never did my homework, often had afternoon detentions for not handing in assignments, never studied for tests and talked through class. 

recently timmy and i cleaned out our filling cabinet. before this 'clean out' we would joke about how we could find important documents in there - car stuff could be found under "c" for car, "f" for forrester, "r" for red car, "p" for papers, "m" for money pit etc and so forth. we didn't actually have any files at all, everything was just shoved in. anyway, we found my old school reports in there (filed under "f" for filing cabinet) they all said lovely things about me with quite a few "buts" when they got to the school work bit. 

my best marks were always in art and music because that's what i was interested in. i was never, ever, ever going to go to uni. i was going to work and travel and become a florist. i got a whopping UAI (university admission index - a number between 25 and 100) of 54.12. yep. that meant that even if i did want to go to uni there was no way i could do it like everyone else. i didn't care though because uni was nowhere in my plans.

as soon as i finished school i started working at a call centre to save for a backpacking trip around europe. i worked for half a year and then travelled for 4 and a bit months with a good friend. the trip was amazing - everything i could have dreamed and more.

when i got home things had changed for me. i wanted to study art. i had always loved art and had some ability that i wanted to explore. i couldn't go straight to uni (and still didn't really want to) so i went to tafe (college) and did a diploma of fine arts. my love of printmaking was born there. from the end of that course i still wanted more and with the tertiary study i had completely was now eligible to apply for uni. i was still completely shocked when i got in.

throw in a year missionary service in canada, a wedding, multiple house moves and a pregnancy and here we are. graduated.

i was so touched that my mum and dad could come. the ceremony was dead boring. like, i actually fell asleep. but holding that piece of paper, seeing my husband and parents faces full of pride felt real good. i actually did it.

my mum graduated with her teaching degree when she was pregnant with me. if you look really close you can kinda see a belly hiding behind those robes. 

my older brothers and sisters (plus a family friend - the girl on the end) watched my mum get her degree. 

life is for learning i tell ya.

wearing american apparel chiffon secretary blouse, long accordion pleat-skirt in creme, bobby leather lace-up shoe in royal blue

watch this space later today for the announcement of the kinfolk giveaway winnner!