My beautiful funky wonderful friend AG sent me a sad email today to let me know her Dad died. She has been with him over the last few weeks and spent every last moment with him, including the last.
I remember when I was younger thinking that the death of a parent would probably be easier to handle once you were older, or had your own family. Now I am not so sure.
Your parents are so many different things to you over a lifetime, they age with you and alongside you, and sometimes end up becoming the grandparents of your kids. When this moment happens - they rejoice at zero parental responsibility and lots of wonderful moments with gorgeous young people. And you - somewhere in the middle of two generations has a whole new perspective on your parents and how amazing they were to get you as far as they did.
To my friend AG - my heart is sad for you and I am so sorry.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Baby Emotional Montage (in 60 seconds).
 |
| 'Oh hello, so nice to see you all here today ..' |
 |
| ' ... But I have a lot on my baby mind' |
 |
| '... Some of it is not pretty' |
 |
| 'Actually you have no idea how powerful I am.' |
 |
| "And loud." |
 |
| 'LISTEN TO ME!!!!!! WATCH MY CLENCHED FIST PULL OFF THE LOUNGE COVER A-G-A-I-N!!!' |
Peeling back the layers.
Favourite quotes of late from my haus meri:
"Tomorrow is our PNG Independence Day. You should do your shopping. It is not your culture but all the ladies will have their boobies out. This is our culture."
What choice did I have but to take Emerald and my camera? Sigh ... we must have been served by the only 4 check out ladies in all of PNG who were completely uninterested in my baby. Asking for a photo just didn't seem right.
Recently when our friend from Buka visited she brought us some funky little woven bags and baskets. As I pondered aloud what they were known as by the local people my haus meri popped her head around and enlightened me:
"Excuse me - it is called 'basket'."
The bleedingly obvious reminded me of my first trip to the local produce market where I found myself marveling at the many different types of potato. With a few varieties in my hand I asked the nice lady what the best way to cook them was ...
"You boil them."
Oh ok ... great ... I then went on to asked her what you did with them after that, how best to season them, what to eat them with etc etc.
"You eat them."
Right. What was I thinking? A subtly seasoned gratin???
"Tomorrow is our PNG Independence Day. You should do your shopping. It is not your culture but all the ladies will have their boobies out. This is our culture."
What choice did I have but to take Emerald and my camera? Sigh ... we must have been served by the only 4 check out ladies in all of PNG who were completely uninterested in my baby. Asking for a photo just didn't seem right.
Recently when our friend from Buka visited she brought us some funky little woven bags and baskets. As I pondered aloud what they were known as by the local people my haus meri popped her head around and enlightened me:
"Excuse me - it is called 'basket'."
The bleedingly obvious reminded me of my first trip to the local produce market where I found myself marveling at the many different types of potato. With a few varieties in my hand I asked the nice lady what the best way to cook them was ...
"You boil them."
Oh ok ... great ... I then went on to asked her what you did with them after that, how best to season them, what to eat them with etc etc.
"You eat them."
Right. What was I thinking? A subtly seasoned gratin???
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Not so free now
I think George Michael must be in trouble again.
My suspicions were raised this morning the minute I heard a Wham song blasting from the wireless. Those cheeky people at Radio Australia were playing the old Wham song 'Freedom!' to mark the fact that he is headed for the clink, or at the very least another courtroom. Within seconds of the first doop-doop-doop-whoa-whoa-yeah-yeah I found myself wanting to reach for the nearest pair of leg-warmers. Part-time love brings us all down, it's true!
And just because I will never shy away from an opportunity look at old Wham publicity shots, I thought I'd better include this (check those flicks on George!):
My suspicions were raised this morning the minute I heard a Wham song blasting from the wireless. Those cheeky people at Radio Australia were playing the old Wham song 'Freedom!' to mark the fact that he is headed for the clink, or at the very least another courtroom. Within seconds of the first doop-doop-doop-whoa-whoa-yeah-yeah I found myself wanting to reach for the nearest pair of leg-warmers. Part-time love brings us all down, it's true!
And just because I will never shy away from an opportunity look at old Wham publicity shots, I thought I'd better include this (check those flicks on George!):
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Happy Happy
What a great weekend. Thanks, Port Moresby for really putting on a show for our visiting friend.
As we already know, most things are relative - and depending where you live, Port Moresby is a thriving metropolis. A bustling city may invoke images of smoky cocktail bars, crowded subways, people people people ignoring each other with their ipods, busy important office blocks and noisy restaurants with silly long waiting lists. But if you live on an island with no fresh herbs, milk or cheese - a few hours in Boroko Foodworld is basically akin to to buying bagels in NYC.
Saturday morning we also picked up part of the 2 week-long Moresby Arts Festival. There were lots of sing-sings and some really interesting art, we wandered off for a while and when I found my friend again, she was carrying her body weight in bilums. Once we took our leave from traditional culture, we zoomed off to engage in mass consumer culture and headed for Brian Bell. Our dinner party plans for the evening ahead had snowballed to the point that I actually needed to buy more crockery, and after filling up on the essentials, I really felt that it was important to grab a pair of white gravy boats as well. Just what every good spouse needs in Papua New Guinea!
As I suspected (but denied at the time of purchase) - the gravy boats weren't actually required on the night. Aside from this minor disappointment, the dinner party was F-U-N. We stayed up late - it was so retro! Dreams of having the whole party merge from table to dancefloor were not realised, so our poor friend had no choice but to watch Will and I bust out moves on the fit ball after everyone had left.
Sunday involved the weekend papers, Gourmet Traveller and a three hour sleep in the middle of the day. If something sounds a bit odd here - you are correct. This is not the kind of Sunday people with babies generally have ... but somehow we did! And when we all woke up feeling refreshed and eating whatever food was in our path - my little girl said 'Mummy' for the first time - at me. Oh the heart-ache of joy!
Sunday dinner was left over beef bourguinon, and yes - it was better the day after just like Stephanie told me it would be. Thanks to Stephanie and her guidance, I also fashioned my first 'bouquet garni' over the weekend - it was quietly satisfying (and a little bit nanna).
And then it was Monday again - and our haus meri came to tidy up all the loose ends and make our house sparkle again.
Thanks universe - I can feel the world smiling and I accept!
As we already know, most things are relative - and depending where you live, Port Moresby is a thriving metropolis. A bustling city may invoke images of smoky cocktail bars, crowded subways, people people people ignoring each other with their ipods, busy important office blocks and noisy restaurants with silly long waiting lists. But if you live on an island with no fresh herbs, milk or cheese - a few hours in Boroko Foodworld is basically akin to to buying bagels in NYC.
Saturday morning we also picked up part of the 2 week-long Moresby Arts Festival. There were lots of sing-sings and some really interesting art, we wandered off for a while and when I found my friend again, she was carrying her body weight in bilums. Once we took our leave from traditional culture, we zoomed off to engage in mass consumer culture and headed for Brian Bell. Our dinner party plans for the evening ahead had snowballed to the point that I actually needed to buy more crockery, and after filling up on the essentials, I really felt that it was important to grab a pair of white gravy boats as well. Just what every good spouse needs in Papua New Guinea!
As I suspected (but denied at the time of purchase) - the gravy boats weren't actually required on the night. Aside from this minor disappointment, the dinner party was F-U-N. We stayed up late - it was so retro! Dreams of having the whole party merge from table to dancefloor were not realised, so our poor friend had no choice but to watch Will and I bust out moves on the fit ball after everyone had left.
Sunday involved the weekend papers, Gourmet Traveller and a three hour sleep in the middle of the day. If something sounds a bit odd here - you are correct. This is not the kind of Sunday people with babies generally have ... but somehow we did! And when we all woke up feeling refreshed and eating whatever food was in our path - my little girl said 'Mummy' for the first time - at me. Oh the heart-ache of joy!
Sunday dinner was left over beef bourguinon, and yes - it was better the day after just like Stephanie told me it would be. Thanks to Stephanie and her guidance, I also fashioned my first 'bouquet garni' over the weekend - it was quietly satisfying (and a little bit nanna).
And then it was Monday again - and our haus meri came to tidy up all the loose ends and make our house sparkle again.
Thanks universe - I can feel the world smiling and I accept!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Woop-Woop!
Things my baby did today that she did not do yesterday (or any other day):
1) Gave me the peace sign over breakfast;
2) Drew herself away from the maternal breast to declare "puppy!" before going back on;
3) Offered me her Jatz cracker by putting it in my mouth;
4) Looked the breadwinner in the eye and called him "Daddy";
5) Pointed at a picture of herself and said "Baby"; and ...
6) Looked at a picture of me with a blank blank face.
Today has been MILESTONE CRAZY FUN DAY!
1) Gave me the peace sign over breakfast;
2) Drew herself away from the maternal breast to declare "puppy!" before going back on;
3) Offered me her Jatz cracker by putting it in my mouth;
4) Looked the breadwinner in the eye and called him "Daddy";
5) Pointed at a picture of herself and said "Baby"; and ...
6) Looked at a picture of me with a blank blank face.
Today has been MILESTONE CRAZY FUN DAY!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)