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Just the two of us ....

we can make it if we try
just the two of us
just the two of us building castles in the sky
just the two of us
you and I.

Reading the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday, and having flicked through the international news section (non-existent), my eye fell to a lift-out from the magazine section. This lift-out, titled The Two of Us is a collation of articles about two people who are in some way connected. Some merely co-exist; others are passionately in love; some are siblings; some parents and their children or adoptive children. Each couple have come across each other (often in curious and unforseen ways), and the piece asks them to talk about the other. What is clear is that the couples are not prompted in any way and there don't seem to be any limitations on discussion areas, so what evolves are very different pieces each week. Being a 'sticky beak' I love this piece and read it weekly to get my fill of 'others'. Sometimes the article is refreshing in its banality, but often the characters are quite eccentric and their view of the world regularly challenges my own.

So yesterday I stumbled upon two tales which initially made me want to weep into my boots - with joy. Both pairings featured 'normal' characters, one of whom had gone out of their way to help the other.

The first tale was of a now 96 year old lady named Isabella who at the age of 73 took over the care of her next door neighbour's 3 young girls due to the neighbour dying of cancer. Now the families were obviously close already, as the youngest girl was named Isabella after the old dear - but still! Given that the bereaved family were Lebanese, the grieving husband continued to play his role in the upbringing of his children, but it was stereotypical, i.e. he was not prepared to pick up any of the house keeping/ managing duties that are involved in rearing children, even though these girls needed it. So the old dear and her husband informally adopted the children and brought them up. The children continued to 'live' in their house, but for all intent and purpose were the children of their next door neighbour. Now 23 years later, they in turn are looking after Isabella who is still going strong!

The second tale was of an Asian immigrant to Australia who arrived at the age of 12, and with little formal schooling and virtually no English, prospered to the point whereby he owned a cafe and a deli and was able to put his two daughters through fee-paying school. As a favour to his neighbours, themselves mostly immigrants, he gave work to their children, often to 'keep them on the straight and narrow'. One of these kids started working for him at the grand age of 12 and was already behind in his school-work, speaking virtually no English despite having been born in Australia. His aspiration was to join the local boy gang. But under the constant urging of his employer, and being continually exposed to other possibilities he decided of his own accord that he wanted to become a doctor. So he learnt English, applied himself at school (even though the school he attended was the worst in the state) and gradually went from bottom of the class to top, got a finals exam worthy of entrance to university and though missing out on medicine, was accepted to study medical science. The first member of his family, both in Australia and Lebanon to gain a degree. And now, after two years, he is optimistic that he will be accepted to medicine in 2006.

the circle of life completes itself

community; compassion; common good; karma; kindness; collaboration; connectivity; the power of two over one ....

just the two of us, we can make it if we try, just the two of us, you and I
(with thanks to bill withers)

Truism - truth is inconvenient

Went to see Al Gore's evangelical movie about global warming - An Inconvenient Truth. Most of you will have seen it, read the crits or heard about it by now, so I won't go into detail, but will comment that for me it was compelling and should be mandatory viewing for all parents. If this movie doesn't prompt behaviour change then I doubt anything will.

But what I find particularly pertinent is the title. For me it raises questions, such as how often does truth get in the way of our individual choices, or become 'inconvenient'? How often do we 'bend' the truth in order to get our own way, or avoid having to change our behaviours?

In this instance the scale of the behaviour change required is so drastic that for most it will feel worse than inconvenient. But as Al Gore states convincingly (with the back-up of the international scientific community) the alternatives are unthinkable. In my book inconvenient's better than dead. Let's see if a generation of parents feel so too, because according to Al, it's no longer enough for us 'greenies' to be pulling our weight - everyone else is going to have to jump on the bandwagon too, and quicksmart.

Home at Last

Well I made it, and without having to pay any excess baggage on any airline!!! Its been a long 9 months and has encompassed trials and tribulations, some tears, some sickness, some study, friends both new and old, intercultural awareness, reconnection with family, personal learnings and development and much much more. On reflection I realised that my trip had taken me to Sri Lanka (obviously); Singapore 3 times (and I'm not including stop-overs); UK; Wales; France; Belgium and Switzerland. And I currently clink when I walk with the amount of useless loose change I'm carrying.

So now facing forwards, looking forward, I'm hoping that my Sri Lankan experience will pave the way for me to find my 'dream job', but if not, I'm pretty happy to contract for a while. DY has secured his dream job and is 3 weeks into that, and I'm just enjoying having my husband, dogs and house back and will take it as it comes.

Butterball

Well I'm back after 14 days in the French countryside. Interestingly it's easier to find internet cafes in Sri Lanka than it is in northern France - I'm sure there's a message in there somewhere.

Since we last spoke I've spent a couple of weeks chez famille at a seaside resort called Wissant, about 15kms out of Calais. "Charming" is probably how you'd describe it, a cute, bijou, seaside town, a walk to the expansive beach with huge dunes one side and World War II bunkers the other (!). It's that bit of the world, and I can only guess what the Yanks thought when they landed over 60 years ago. To me it's reminiscent of childhood holidays in Cornwall, even down to the weather which was almost reliable in it's schizophrenia - one day warm and sunny, next day cold and raining. On the warm days the beach would be full, on the cold everyone heads to the sailing club/ bar/ pub and those under the age of 18 get told to stop whinging, it's "bracing" and "fresh air is good for you". My measure of fresh these days is when it's cooler in the European summer than the Sydney winter ....

Anyway, the reason for this extra vacation in addition to my "International Year of Learning", was my mother's 60th Birthday. She, my Pa, the 2 crazy dogs, my brother, his wife and newish baby Josh took up residence in 2 adjoining fishermen's cottages. On the warm days all was blissful, but for a few days there when the rain was coming down in sheets it all looked as if it might go a bit pear shaped!!! But to the relief of most, Mother had a never-ending stream of visitors arriving to celebrate the "BIG" birthday which meant the the Cargill Family didn't descend into the normal bickering - everyone was on their best behaviour. Except for the day that my dad lost one of the dogs, but after a few pressions ....

So here I am, duly rested after re-connecting with my family and my European roots. I'm pleasantly tired, somewhat wind-tanned, and looking forward to seeing my dear husband and hounds once more, and luxury of luxuries, sleeping in my own bed. That is if I can fit in after a month eating butter croissants ... oh butterball, me.