Hi pals! The time has come to wrap up this blog and drive off into the sunset. Our time on the inlet has drawn to a close. The moving van is arriving 7 am (urgh) on Friday and we're heading to a different out of town location. Castlemaine will be our new home, and boy are we looking forward to it.
When I started this blog I intended it to be an exploration of a non-urban experience. I had visions of recipes and photography non-stop gardening and all the amazing hobbies I would undoubtedly take up. Here's some of what happened in the last two years:
So much driving. The last six months or so Tracey reminded me about audiobooks and that's been great. If I never see the Monash Freeway again it will be too soon. My butt agrees!
A realisation of what matters most to us as a couple. This has so many layers. We decided we wanted babies, we realised that the wanky city stuff is important to us because it's an expression of diversity. Oh, how we missed good coffee and independent cinema and music venues and a good cheap parma! To go to a place where we didn't stick out like dogs balls. Community was something we ached for. Around here people mostly keep to themselves and when they didn't we kind of wished they would... different values grating on us in ways we weren't expecting. Never in a million years did I think that a friendly person like me would be lonely down here. But oh my gawd, loneliness rained down in spades. How we wished for a friend who lived three minutes down the road that we could pop in for a cup of tea with. Someone it was easy with. But everything was so far away.
Mental health stuff. The death of two far-too-young friends at different points. Solace in solitude but loneliness too. A LOT of television. Not a lot of going outside (killer mozzies and the terrible allergic reactions sending my system into itchy rage year-round). The feeling of low ceilings bearing down on us and the walls of our tiny house closing in. Size does matter - we didn't know that before.
I don't mean this to be a litany of complaints - more an honest look without sugar coating. It's been amazing to be without the city traffic the majority of the time. To have a chicken coop and get to know our lovely chicken ladies, to know what it is to eat eggs from happy birds, and so much beautiful green all around, the smell of eucalyptus such a tonic. My favourite time here on the inlet is during storms - it's so beautiful looking out at all of those gums waving around in the wind.
I've experienced learning to ask for a place to lay my head when the drive back home was too much. The generosity of friends sharing their living space with me for a night or two. We've hosted visitors who loved the quiet and the trees, and we've wished our house was bigger so we could all be more comfortable. There was one night in particular when we found a packet of Turkish fairy floss in the pantry, playing cards listening to Jesus Christ Superstar on vinyl when things went a bit weird. The laughter turning sinister and strange with a life of its own, all of us feeling hungover the next day. Turkish fairy floss - never again!
One night I came home and Tracey had lined our driveway with candles, and when I walked through our front door our loungeroom was filled to the brim with flowers, candles, and the woman I love singing her marriage proposal accompanied by guitar that she'd practiced in secret for weeks. How my heart swelled bigger and more open than I ever thought it would, being known and loved by this beautiful lady.
A phonecall arrived one Friday afternoon telling me Dad was in the hospital following a heart attack, and I reversed out of the driveway and sat with him and held myself together until he recovered.
We fought and made up and sometimes pushed two couches together and huddled under the doona with our dogs when times were tough and we couldn't face the outside world.
All of our whitegoods gave up the ghost at one point or another, even the oven died. I'll miss you most of all, fancy new oven.
A few months ago this house saw me getting my hairs and makeups did and getting all dressed up. Friends and family gathered and we all piled into the car and I met Tracey at the lovely winery under the big pine tree and we got married. We came back here that night and sat up in bed removing bobby pins (a mountain) and makeup (another mountain) as we lay in the rose petals with Clem our mini schnauzer and read all of our cards and cried and smiled and laughed. We felt weird that Taj our photographer wasn't there with us and often do when important things are happening now.
Two months on and I'm still delighted each time I catch a glance of that gold ring on my left hand, everything it means and all the love poured into it.
All of it is tied to this house. This place and all that happened over the last two years. It's been a steep and amazing learning curve. On to the next adventure. A big warm house, with room for all of us. See you there?
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Visibility
Yesterday arvo I was looking at the old facey (the social media not the one on my head) and felt great rage and that awful sinking feeling when I saw a picture of a man my friend posted. The rage didn't come from my man-hating lesbian status - I'm generally ok with anyone who isn't a jerk. This man had his face buried smarmily in the MX newspaper and was sitting in a spot reserved for people who need it. You know the kind, pregnant people, disabled people (or people with disabilities or however you're comfortable to read those words - I quite like the term crip, and refer to myself as such), elderly people. This lady I know is someone who needs one of these seats on a daily basis. That means usually having to ask people to move and all the feels that go along with that. Jerkface in the photo refused to give it up for her.
I know, right? What a tool!
The thing is this isn't an isolated incident. Happens quite a bit, to people with visible requirements (prosthetics, walking sticks, crutches). What a world.
I've been thinking about visibility a lot lately. A month or two ago my invisible crippledom turned a bit visible when I've required a walking stick to get around. It's all good - not a lasting symptom, although it's a pain the arse I should be ok soon, and I don't need it all the time, but when I do use my stick it's pretty amazing what happens.
Firstly, I turn into a wise elderly English gentleman with a pocketwatch, wearing a suit comprised entirely of houndstooth.
Just jokes - but really, initially I felt embarrassed. I'm so used to passing as just another person who yawns and sits a lot. If a friend was ashamed of me or anyone else for being criptastic, I would drop that friend like a hot spud - and how. As an aside - how ridiculous to drop a delicious hot potato. Put that sucker on a plate and eat it!
So I got over my misplaced ego attack, and using the stick in public resulted in things happening that have never happened to me before. Got on a plane using the lift, instead of struggling up the stairs and feeling like crap for days. Got moved to the front of the queue, less waiting on my feet. Went to the comedy festival and a lady walked with me to show me where the lift was at Bella Union, accompanied me to the room the gig was in, and made sure I had an aisle seat.
None of this was done in a patronising manner. It was all just friendly and nice and helpful. I turned up, whoever was in charge of herding people clocked a brief look at my walking stick and made good shit happen. This may be controversial, but I liked the help I received. Oh my lawd, just a bit of assistance makes such a mega difference sometimes. The lack of waiting on my feet, and walking up flights of stairs, and carrying heavy stuff means I get to enjoy the next hour or two instead of starting to recover from those simple things that create such complex issues. It was assistance with dignity, and that made all the difference. I didn't have to seek it out and get worked up thinking about the rejection that could occur.
Doing a bit of navel gazing about this leads me to believe that I'm a bit tuckered out from nigh on ten years of the crip. I've never asked anyone to give up their seat for me on the train. Nor have I been at the front of the queue for the plane before. Just how I would navigate those things happening on a regular basis sans walking stick is beyond me.
Thinking of my friend on the train, it's a gutsy move to ask someone to vacate their seat for you. They definitely should - but I wonder how many people consider what it's taken that person to ask. I still get very emotional, and it takes me by surprise, when I'm in the position of needing to explain myself to people. Is it shame? If so, it's misplaced. But it's there nonetheless. My friend on the train? After the man refused to give up his seat, she cried. And stood, in pain after a shit day with a shit end. I hope he saw her tears and felt ashamed of himself.
Over the years I've formed the opinion that there's nothing wrong with a public cry. If I'm sad, and my face squirts water from my eyes as a sign of this, then it's not a problem. I actually love it when people cry when they're talking to me about real stuff. My bestie Cat cries ALL the time. I love it! I don't want people to feel bad, but if they ARE feeling bad, I'd prefer their face explodes with tears than to hold it all in and feel worse for longer. You dig?
Recently Tracey and I did one of the most visible things you can do. We got hitched. We did it our way, with recognisable elements of a celebrant and a winery and a brilliant band and a great big crowd of friends and family and a photographer and a videographer. I think I need to write a post just about that, with mega plugs for all the amazing people who helped us to get it all happening. Hot dog, what a great day! It was like love Christmas.
By all accounts everyone had a really great time, and the love in the air was palpable. It's quite amazing to be smack bang in the middle of a love tornado - everyone's there to celebrate and acknowledge your relationship. It's pretty spesh.
Anyway, this somehow links back to the point which is visibility. I'm not sure how to say this so blurting it is probably best. But before I do - please know that I'm not saying this as a request for argument with my thoughts. Feel free to say and think what you like, but this is not a cry for "tell me I'm pretty" messages. It's painful to be honest sometimes, but adding light to dark thoughts often changes them.
There have been very few times in my life where I felt like I looked good, but on the day that Tracey and I got married, I felt beautiful. I was so happy. We both had the dresses of our dreams made by a very nice lady, the place was dripping with colourful flowers, and I had the biggest, gooniest smile on my mug the entire day. It was ace fun.
I grew up believing that I was the only ugly person in my primary school, and then my high school. I thought it was a secret that everyone knew but nobody talked about. So I just wanted to say, it gets better. Even now when I look at the photos that I'm in the first thing I see are my imperfections and faults, but I remember the feeling of being beautiful for that whole day. Tracey encouraged me to remember that feeling when I look at our wedding photos, and I can do that when I try.
This is what I look like in my dressing gown and jammies, with my wedding hair and makeup done, when I'm holding my chicken.
Here I am all dressed up with Clem in his tux. We didn't bring our menagerie to the wedding, just dressed up the boys at home for photos like this.
What I'm trying to say, is that it's ok to feel beautiful even if the conventional world or your own nasty self-talk are not necessarily in agreement with you. It's great to go all out and be seen being proud of yourself and expressing love for your partner and your family and your friends (and your chicken).
If the parts of you that hurt are invisible, you're worth it enough to speak of them and as a result, move around in life a bit easier. And if the parts of you that hurt are visible and the guy on the train is an asshole and won't offer you a seat when you need one, he has every reason in the world to feel shame - and even though you have none, let that misplaced shame out through exploding water face and hopefully some of it will land on him.
All photos in this post were taken by the astoundingly talented Tajette O'Halloran.
I know, right? What a tool!
The thing is this isn't an isolated incident. Happens quite a bit, to people with visible requirements (prosthetics, walking sticks, crutches). What a world.
I've been thinking about visibility a lot lately. A month or two ago my invisible crippledom turned a bit visible when I've required a walking stick to get around. It's all good - not a lasting symptom, although it's a pain the arse I should be ok soon, and I don't need it all the time, but when I do use my stick it's pretty amazing what happens.
Firstly, I turn into a wise elderly English gentleman with a pocketwatch, wearing a suit comprised entirely of houndstooth.
Just jokes - but really, initially I felt embarrassed. I'm so used to passing as just another person who yawns and sits a lot. If a friend was ashamed of me or anyone else for being criptastic, I would drop that friend like a hot spud - and how. As an aside - how ridiculous to drop a delicious hot potato. Put that sucker on a plate and eat it!
So I got over my misplaced ego attack, and using the stick in public resulted in things happening that have never happened to me before. Got on a plane using the lift, instead of struggling up the stairs and feeling like crap for days. Got moved to the front of the queue, less waiting on my feet. Went to the comedy festival and a lady walked with me to show me where the lift was at Bella Union, accompanied me to the room the gig was in, and made sure I had an aisle seat.
None of this was done in a patronising manner. It was all just friendly and nice and helpful. I turned up, whoever was in charge of herding people clocked a brief look at my walking stick and made good shit happen. This may be controversial, but I liked the help I received. Oh my lawd, just a bit of assistance makes such a mega difference sometimes. The lack of waiting on my feet, and walking up flights of stairs, and carrying heavy stuff means I get to enjoy the next hour or two instead of starting to recover from those simple things that create such complex issues. It was assistance with dignity, and that made all the difference. I didn't have to seek it out and get worked up thinking about the rejection that could occur.
Doing a bit of navel gazing about this leads me to believe that I'm a bit tuckered out from nigh on ten years of the crip. I've never asked anyone to give up their seat for me on the train. Nor have I been at the front of the queue for the plane before. Just how I would navigate those things happening on a regular basis sans walking stick is beyond me.
Thinking of my friend on the train, it's a gutsy move to ask someone to vacate their seat for you. They definitely should - but I wonder how many people consider what it's taken that person to ask. I still get very emotional, and it takes me by surprise, when I'm in the position of needing to explain myself to people. Is it shame? If so, it's misplaced. But it's there nonetheless. My friend on the train? After the man refused to give up his seat, she cried. And stood, in pain after a shit day with a shit end. I hope he saw her tears and felt ashamed of himself.
Over the years I've formed the opinion that there's nothing wrong with a public cry. If I'm sad, and my face squirts water from my eyes as a sign of this, then it's not a problem. I actually love it when people cry when they're talking to me about real stuff. My bestie Cat cries ALL the time. I love it! I don't want people to feel bad, but if they ARE feeling bad, I'd prefer their face explodes with tears than to hold it all in and feel worse for longer. You dig?
Recently Tracey and I did one of the most visible things you can do. We got hitched. We did it our way, with recognisable elements of a celebrant and a winery and a brilliant band and a great big crowd of friends and family and a photographer and a videographer. I think I need to write a post just about that, with mega plugs for all the amazing people who helped us to get it all happening. Hot dog, what a great day! It was like love Christmas.
By all accounts everyone had a really great time, and the love in the air was palpable. It's quite amazing to be smack bang in the middle of a love tornado - everyone's there to celebrate and acknowledge your relationship. It's pretty spesh.
Anyway, this somehow links back to the point which is visibility. I'm not sure how to say this so blurting it is probably best. But before I do - please know that I'm not saying this as a request for argument with my thoughts. Feel free to say and think what you like, but this is not a cry for "tell me I'm pretty" messages. It's painful to be honest sometimes, but adding light to dark thoughts often changes them.
There have been very few times in my life where I felt like I looked good, but on the day that Tracey and I got married, I felt beautiful. I was so happy. We both had the dresses of our dreams made by a very nice lady, the place was dripping with colourful flowers, and I had the biggest, gooniest smile on my mug the entire day. It was ace fun.
I grew up believing that I was the only ugly person in my primary school, and then my high school. I thought it was a secret that everyone knew but nobody talked about. So I just wanted to say, it gets better. Even now when I look at the photos that I'm in the first thing I see are my imperfections and faults, but I remember the feeling of being beautiful for that whole day. Tracey encouraged me to remember that feeling when I look at our wedding photos, and I can do that when I try.
This is what I look like in my dressing gown and jammies, with my wedding hair and makeup done, when I'm holding my chicken.
Here I am all dressed up with Clem in his tux. We didn't bring our menagerie to the wedding, just dressed up the boys at home for photos like this.
What I'm trying to say, is that it's ok to feel beautiful even if the conventional world or your own nasty self-talk are not necessarily in agreement with you. It's great to go all out and be seen being proud of yourself and expressing love for your partner and your family and your friends (and your chicken).
If the parts of you that hurt are invisible, you're worth it enough to speak of them and as a result, move around in life a bit easier. And if the parts of you that hurt are visible and the guy on the train is an asshole and won't offer you a seat when you need one, he has every reason in the world to feel shame - and even though you have none, let that misplaced shame out through exploding water face and hopefully some of it will land on him.
All photos in this post were taken by the astoundingly talented Tajette O'Halloran.
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