It’s interesting to me that I was just thinking about all the old Enid Blyton books I loved to read when I was a kid and in the mornings papers was this story: Famous Five Set to Find Fame. Made me feel almost magical.
I read the ‘Secret Seven’ series, the ‘Famous Five’ of course, but loved the ‘Faraway Tree’ trilogy and ‘Wishing Chair’ set more I think. My favourite of all the many though would have to be ‘The Naughtiest Girl’ books. I am sure I only read 2 or 3 of them, yet it appears there are 8 on this site.
If you want to learn more about Enid Blyton, The Enid Blyton Society website is absolutely a must read. It’s quite amazing to see the list of writing, there are 100s of books. When I look through the list I see many other familiar books that I read as a child.
Lost and Found Women
While I was cooking dinner this evening, the phone rang. I nearly didn’t answer it, expecting a telemarketer! I couldn’t resist. It was my long lost friend Ronece. I was speechless with delight, for about two seconds. We have just enjoyed a long chat on the phone, catching up on over 5 years that we haven’t been in touch. Our children have grown, my career has changed, I live in a different town, but we picked up as though it were back in the day when we chatted at least every other day.
Great Women Friends
When I got off the phone, I was on it for a couple of hours, I reflected on how blessed I have been to have such awesome women friends. I don’t really mention them on my blog much because I feel it would be invading their privacy somehow. I want to mention them tonight though because I appreciate them all.
Old Friends
Some have been around for a long time, like Jane who I met when we were 6 years old. Wilma has been around for a long while also. I met her in my first year at Monash Gippsland. Neither of us finished our degrees at that time, but we did go on to have a business or two together in soft furnishings and we’re still in touch. She introduced me to Dallis and Shirley and many other great friends.
New Friends
Rhonda is like a twin soul. We were born on the same day, yet a year apart. We have the same middle name! We work together and see each other every day. It’s such fun! She is currently injured and at home for the week, but I will be popping in to see her each day. She was such a treasure to me over the past hard weeks with the flu and the loss of pa. We share our daily ups and downs and amazingly are often feeling exactly the same way about all kinds of things.
Work Friends
Having had over 20 jobs since I left school, I have enjoyed some great friendships with people I’ve worked with Maureen, Jenny, Sonia and Wilma have been fabulous mentors as well as friends. I catch up with them all, although not as often as before and enjoy their company. I have learnt so much from each of them. I currently have a great bunch of women I work with. Too many to name! It’s another thing I really value about my job.
Great Friends I rarely see
I was so close with Rene when I lived in Harkaway. She is a beautiful and amazing woman who brought such a delicious presence to my life. We had great times and excursions with our kids and her large and wonderful family provided a haven for me when I was missing mine.
I had a great road trip with Lisa to Queensland and her gentle and generous nature tolerated me through the journey.
Lost Friends but not forgotten Friends
I learnt heaps from Bronwyn and she supported me through some painful growth times in my life.
I had some great friends at school. Kim was one I have never caught up with again, but would love to hear from. We had some times together!
Thanks And Sorry
Writing a post like this worries me as there are probably people I am leaving out. Sorry if I have. I feel immensely blessed by the all the great women I’ve had and have as friends. Bronwyn once said to me that your friends are your family of choice. I liked that and am happy with my choices.
I also have a lot of great male friends, but tonight it’s about the girls.
With Hindsight 30 was……
Truthfully
Ghastly for me. However, to be completely honest, I’d made rather a mess of my life by then and it was possibly the best thing that ever happened to me in a nasty yet useful way. It’s over 10 years ago now, so with that kind of space from it, I can see the benefits.
Karen Cheng asks about turning 30 in her post The Big Three Oh- Women Turning 30 – I’m glad you asked Karen!
Picture This
On my 30th birthday, as the sun was coming up, I was barefoot in a muddy field with an aching back and my precious babies sleeping in the backseat of my celica, whilst I cut not nearly enough asparagus to make it worthwhile. My once beautifully manicured hands were calloused and cut. There were rows of asparagus ahead of me to cut.
How did I get there?
I was separated and trying to raise two kids under 5. I’d been in decorating business with my friend and business partner. It was long hours and I felt I didn’t have enough time for my kids. I hoped that by selling the business and taking casual jobs, I would get more time and have a more peaceful lifestyle.
It took a lot of convincing for the farmer to give me the job so I was too stubborn to leave after promising I wouldn’t quit in the first week. I barely made a living and had help every day from fit, experienced blokes who would see me struggling and jump the fence and cut out my rows so I’d finish before the asparagus went off in the field.
I remember one day picking up my daughter from kinder and one of the mum’s asked me if I’d been to Bali cause I had such a great tan. I rushed out to the car so I wouldn’t blubber in public. It was a painful time.
Benefits of the Harsh Experience
I saw the most amazing sunrises and dragonflies. I made some good mates and for the first time learnt why labourers drink beer. It tastes damn good after hard work! It was a physical challenge.
I knew I was insane doing it so hard . I had a BA and lots of skills and it was one of those turning points that makes you get your act together. It took a while but I made progress to making a better life from that day on.
I still feel …
In Karen’s reflection she says she still feels like she is 24. Even when I turned 40 I still felt like a kid. I don’t think age is about feeling a certain way. I did have expectations of having my act a lot more together when I was 30 than it was. I felt like a failure in so many ways and I didn’t match up to my vision for 30. I started to feel that it was time to take my life a lot more seriously and that I had to stop fluffing around.
10 Years Later
Turning 40 was bliss in comparison. I not only felt pleased with my life but had the perspective of how painful it had been only 10 years ago to amplify my gratitude. I feel like I am now living the best years of my life. I know you can decide this at any time.