Tag: family

Father’s Day

I adore my dad. I have just returned from spending time with him. I get to see him quite a bit luckily. He is a very good man and I know I am blessed to have him in my life.

He has retired and is loving it. I’m pleased he has this outlook as I have seen people retire and be miserable. He worked so hard during his life. He would be gone by 6.00 and return after 6.00 each night. He had a sand quarry and was in partnership with my pa. He told us that they never had an argument whilst they were in business for over 30 years.
It’s hard to buy for my dad as he never suggests anything and always says he wants for nothing. He is not a drinking, golf playing, fishing kind of dad. He doesn’t have any interests other than his wife and family. He takes photo’s and has all the old family photo’s. He already has all the equipment for this hobby. He buys what he wants, when he wants it.
Still, I found a PC Chess tournament game. I was never able to beat him at chess, not that I am much of a player. I hope this will provide a challenge and I am also trying to get him to use his computer more.
He has never had to use a computer for work, so his usage has been limited to checking bank statements online. He wants to scan all the old photo’s he has onto disk and fix some of them. He has boxes and boxes of great photos. It will be a great resource for the family.
This is one of my favourite photo’s in the world. It is from left to right, my great grandfather, grandfather, dad and godfather, Uncle Jack. Dad is the only surviving member of this hardworking team. This photo was taken before I was born and we lived on the farm near Yarragon.

Back to Living

Re-establishing Order
It’s been a pretty demanding week, yet I am blessed with another day’s grace from facing work. We have a mid-year break long weekend. Today I get my home in order! It’s ridiculously messy and chaotic. I have been coming and going for almost a week. So many family members have been at my parents home and so I have spent most of my time there.
Little Incident
We had a thief in the early hours of Wednesday morning, last week. I disturbed him/her because I was sleepless and stepped out my front door and noticed the light on in my car. I panicked, rushed back into the house and locked the front door. I lay in bed really still hoping I was wrong. Pathetic reaction I know. When I told the men in my life the next day, they dismissed it as a reflection. With all the chaos, Andy didn’t notice until Saturday that his good camera had disappeared from his car. He phoned the police, who came around and took a statement. An hour later they phoned to say they had the camera and had caught the culprit. Great result.
Pa
There is so much to say one day about my amazing grandfather. I am bursting with gratitude right in this moment for having been blessed with such a role model and loving person in my life. Other moments I feel crushed and just want to pop over and visit him one more time.
Support
I have received so much support and love from others. Visits, flowers, chocolates, consoling books, phone calls and a most wonderful card from my students. The card had a loving message from each kid in my class and I can’t find words to express how much that meant to me. I knew I had an awesome group this year and they just keep proving me right.
Raining Challenges
When I look back on the last two weeks, I feel strong. Apart from the shattering loss of Pa, I’ve had gastro/flu, a theft, we had a fire at our school and the art rooms burnt down last weekend (not that I was too helpful as I’ve been so absent lately) and numerous small incidents that occur when large families gather, yet it’s over now and I am ready to return to living.

I’ll leave you with this quote from my Pa that captures his essence brilliantly. He said this at my cousins wedding in his speech a couple of years ago:

“It doesn’t matter what wealth or worldly goods you accumulate in this life, the most important asset you will ever acquire is your family”

Cyril Lyons 2005

Back Soon

My pa died on Wednesday 14th. I loved him so much and feel so blessed to have had him in my life. My large and wonderful family and awesome friends are spending time together crying and laughing and remembering all that we loved. I feel loved, supported and devastated all in waves. The funeral is tomorrow. That’s all I can say for now.