I was standing in the deli of the country supermarket. No longer so remote and increasingly 'cosmopolitan' now the town could boast a range of coffee shops and franchises - Gloria Jeans, Jamaica Blue, Boost Juice and the list goes on. This was an emerging aspect of this thriving rural hub.
You experience something poignant when you return to the place where the fabric of your life commenced its' weave. Threads of relationships that haven't broken and somehow withstood time apart, the test of wear & tear,and maybe even some neglect.
On arriving here on Thursday I met my Mum at her sister and brother-in-laws home where the regular weekly get together was taking place. I spied my mum eagerly looking up and down the street for my arrival, and then, we were soon in each other's arms. Our shared solitude was short lived as we walked around the back of the house. I was soon ensconced in the banter between siblings that have journeyed through life together for more than 60 years. There was indeed a feeling of coming home.....
Aunts and Uncles have a unique, steadfast role in the life of their sibling's children. There is a constancy, a surety for us as we grow through life, wandering the planet, embracing technology and quietly knowing that our extended family are right where they've always been loving and supporting us from afar, back in that country town.
This trip was for my school reunion, yet on being in my aunts kitchen this reunion of family gave me a new appreciation for this generation of older Australians. They had so many tales to tell of rivers running and the life they contained, to scone mixes and beetroot plants, the richness of a healthy soil and the merriment that comes from being able to laugh at yourself and your family!
Back in 1984 I was a teenager about to embark on her grown up life. I could never imagine how much these people, my family would come to mean to me. Perhaps it is true that it is only when we ourselves begin to raise our own family that we can appreciate the joy, strength, patience and perseverance of the ones who raised us and continue to do so.
Now I best get ready for that school reunion!
