New Beginning's

Our lives have been turned upside down and inside out for quite a while now but over the last few weeks it has been especially trying.

Ronnie and I contracted a rather viscous dose of this new flu virus (this particular strain causes bronchitis, diarrhoea and vomiting in addition to the normal symptoms) three weeks ago just as we were finalising the sale of our house and organising our relocation to Brisbane. My Bonnie Ronnie is really struggling to get over this illness and her chest still sounds pretty bad, worse than mine in fact.

We have had numerous, tremendous offers of help with our move but have had to actively discourage people and turn down their kind offers as we could not possibly subject anyone to this virus let alone our most helpful friends and family. I must say that Les and Cathy (senior relatives) would have none of our protests and helped us unpack once the move had been made and provided us with a most welcome home cooked meal (a nice break from our diet of fast food during this difficult time.) The assistance is greatly appreciated although we are more than a little concerned for their well being.

The sale of the house was not straight forward as our Mortgagee gave everyone the run around with a rude and obnoxious attitude the whole time. As usual I opened my big mouth and voiced my dissatisfaction which .... surprise, surprise... altered their ability to settle on the planned and agreed date. This in turn meant that we missed a payment date, incurred a penalty, late fees and additional interest - the net result, the sale price was not sufficient to even cover settlement costs. So not only did we lose a significant sum including 6 years of equity but had to pay extra for the privilege. Mind you, .....on the up side, we are rid of the Mortgagee from hell! at last!

Where to from here? That my friends is a good question.... I have no idea! I do know what I would like to do... when I was young and thought the world was my oyster, I used to draw ( free hand and drafting) and paint and experiment with photography and wanted more than anything to design and make Jewellery but life took one of those left turns, a war got into the mix and before I knew which end was up I had responsibilities, a family, little people who relied on me to keep both feet firmly planted on the ground and provide for them the best way possible - I took that responsibility very seriously and put my desires on the back burner, head down, bum up - nose to the grindstone. Then one day fairly recently (almost 3 years ago) I was listening to a surgeon telling me that I had a 2% chance of surviving beyond 30 minutes. 

This type of reality check has a way of causing one to stop and take a look around - my little one's have little ones of their own, while Bonnie Ronnie has two families that would love to care for her... I looked in my bucket, it was EMPTY! "Bugger all to kick there!" I thought. I prayed for an extension of time to make my bucket worth kicking, if it suited GOD's will. I have now been on the adventure of a lifetime ever since and even better, my Bonnie Ronnie is with me all the way.... albeit with some reservations from time to time:)

We are in our new rented house in Kallangur, within 15 minutes drive of grand-kids, cousins, aunts and uncles and some dear old friends from the old neighbourhood (Petrie of 20 years ago). A new start, a new adventure.... the unknown! Rather exciting especially since we know that it is going to be just as turbulent as was our new start in Australia 30 years ago, when stamina and determination were the order of the day, ... hehe.. this time wisdom and experience are the order of the day.

Our future is in GOD's hands for he has an AWESOME plan for us, of that I am certain, so charge your glass (champers, wine or even chocolate port) and toast with us to New Beginning's!