Sunday, June 14, 2009

I am sitting here with a big smile on my face reminiscing about a time so many years ago.

It was around 1982, I was quite pregnant and preparing for the birth of my first child.

We had been in the neighbourhood (Sunshine, Melb) some twelve months, but because up till then I had been working full time we hadn't really had much of a chance to get to know any of our neighbours.



We were aware of a couple of families nearby, one of which was across the road from us. The chappy had waved to us a few times and we had waved back, as you do. My husband Murray and I had commented on him being a swarthy looking fellow with a mop of dark curly hair and a big moustache and consequently presumed he was of Mediterranean descent.



I fondly recall the doorbell ringing one day, with a familiar looking lady standing at the door, a big grin on her face plus a bag full of baby clothes, not to mention a car-seat. This happened to be the wife of the friendly gentleman across the road as it turned out and before too long we became firm friends primarily because of an instantaneous liking for one another not to mention our proximity to each other's residence.



As it turned out, we were wrong regarding this wonderful lady's husband's nationality. He was quite the Australian gentle man. He was a brilliant neighbour and friend and throughout the years has remained so.



As for his wife, she has been there for me through many trials and tribulations. She is my daughter's god-mother and is none other than the delightful Lizzie you read about in http://nanalizzie.blogspot.com/



How lucky was I eh!





While I was in Goroka, PNG recently, my primary purpose was to work as a volunteer midwife in their hospital labour ward.

One of the amazing facts is that they do not have identity bracelets for their babies just born. All the mothers have to bring in a baby blanket which is how they identify their newborns, which are placed under a radiant heater shortly after the birth.



This is the photo to which Lizzie was referring to.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Jen! Welcome to our Blog~land Neighborhood!

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  2. Oh the memories, as you know he still laughs about the Italian hanging over the fence, but I'm not sure about the 'swarthy and dark' bit anymore, not a dark hair left!! Lucky? We are both lucky in most things I think, love me
    xxx

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