Here we are with another year gone and the year 2020 ahead of us. When you think about it , the time is made up of memories, Birthdays, Christmases ,Weddings, even memories of the tough times.
I am very concerned for the children who will be in need of responsible parenting after these fires. How the parents respond is pivotal to their ability to move on. Will the parents politicise this or will they let the kids play the glad game? - patriotrealm
My young grandson 10 who lives in a NSW fire threatened community has escaped the smoke and reminders of the bush fires and is holidaying by a lovely Lake in the South Island of New Zealand. The memories of this lovely joyful holiday will be with him forever. How fortunate he is that he is safe unlike the thousands of people whose memories will be forever changed after the ghastly times they are enduring.
What I think I have realized in this terrible situation is that over my life the tough times can be remembered positively if we focus on the good.
How people have helped each other supported each other and befriended each other is something to grab hold of and treasure.
Fortunately my memories are not unhappy ones, in fact I think I must have been blessed with mostly very happy memories. I never went through a bush fire but when I think about it I was a teenager during the polio epidemic and the war years. Schools were closed and life was not much fun. But in this time of terrible difficulty something wonderful happened. On the 17th of January 1949 I met my future husband. The beginning of a new life for him after serving in the Royal Navy during the war. A fun evening in a little country town in the local hall. We dated and in June of 1950 we got married in a pretty church and settled down to married life with love but very little else. But is was more than enough.
We spent all our married life in Country towns, our children went to Country schools, and grew up without much fuss or bother. We were happily married for 65 years before my husband became ill and the last few years of his life were not the most comfortable or pleasant. But neither of us were ever unfaithful or damaged the trust we had in one another. Naturally we had lots of disagreements , who wouldn't in 65 years. Ours was not a passive arrangement. Both a pair of June birthdays , with minds of our own! We were never rich but we were never poor. There was grief and sadness and times of trial but we never focussed on those times.
Far better to look at the good not the bad times.
You miss the happy chit chat of normal every day discussions, but fortunately you do remember the lovely holidays overseas, the Coach tours, visiting also sorts of out of the way places. We even did a 6 week cruise visiting Papua New Guinea , visited a Memorial for soldiers buried in the area. Fortunately you cannot take those wonderful memories away, they are there forever. Ayers Rock, Darwin too, we stayed at the Casino and were probably the only people who did not step into the Casino itself, we never gambled but we did go sightseeing.
When we think of Anniversaries , they high light special times in our lives We were very lucky because I can look back and say on the whole we enjoyed ourselves and were happy . No real disasters, children all grew up healthy and well adjusted.
You can't beat a lovely old song like "Memories" to stir nostalgia and reflect on happy moments.
Coming back to where I started I hope that all the poor people stranded on the beach or unable to leave their homes can one day look back on this time and remember something positive.
While my Grandson will remember this summer with joy and happiness, other children have not been so lucky. I hope that their parents and friends can gift them a Pollyanna moment and play the glad game. Glad that they survived and glad that they were all together.
Out of bad times there can come good times. We just have to look hard enough.
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