Who is your favorite cartoon character?
My favourite cartoon character would be Snoopy from the Peanuts cartoon. Lily’s favourite cartoon character is Bluey. Lily loves to watch television 📺 and when Bluey is on she watches it and barks at the television screen. I think she knows that Bluey is a dog.
If your pet could talk, what would be the first thing it says?
If Lily could talk the first thing she would say is “Can I have a treat?”or “Can we go walkies?”
What’s the best and worst airport you’ve been to?
A year ago I was planning my future life at The Haven and decluttering my unit waiting for this move . I had the support of my worker Vicki and of my brother Peter. I was optimistic and joyfully planning my life. I thought I would have security and peace of stable housing.
Fate hit me hard when after jumping through many hoops and red tape when I was knocked back by the NDIA for housing at The Haven because I am considered to be too well for that sort of social housing. I may have a mental illness but because I look after myself and haven’t been hospitalised for over 3 years I am too well to be accommodated in social housing.
Now i wait on the government housing wait list. I wait patiently but as I wait the steep steps in my unit become harder and harder to negotiate as I age. So I continue to wait and pray 🙏🏽 to God that I will be lucky sooner rather than later with my goal of stable permanent housing. Please 🙏🏽 God let this be so.
I woke up this morning not feeling very well and when this happens is when I start to ruminate of the things in my life that I can’t change. A friend of mine was planning to visit today but I knew I was not up for any deep and meaningful discussions, so I politely took a raincheck until next week..
Thank God I have a canine antidepressant called Lily whose very shape and presence 🙏🏽 in my life brings me great joy. Lily makes all my days brighter. She stops me ruminating about things I have no control over. I find her company changes my thoughts to be of glass half full, rather than negative and now I am thinking of the many things I have to be grateful for and I begin to count my blessings. I may fall down occasionally but I quickly pick myself up. Tomorrow always comes today and we are all able to start each day with a clean slate to start over again. God has plans for us all, we just need to be open 🙏🏽 to experiencing them.
If you could relive one year of your life, which one would it be?
If I could relive just one year of my life it would be 2019 the year I turned 50 years old. I would change just about nothing that year. I would definitely go on the cruise to New Zealand again but with Susanna well enough to go too. The cruise was the happiest adventure of my life but to share it with Susanna would have been magical magnificent. If we knew what 2020 would bring to the world 🌎 with covid, lockdowns and self isolation I would have spent every minute I had in Susanna’s company, relishing in her company brfore tragedy struck the world 🌎 and Susanna ultimately losing her battle with cancer months after we finished our prison term of lockdowns here in Melbourne. The world 🌎 was innocent in 2019 to what lay around the corner. I would like that time again to show Susanna exactly what she meant to me.
What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done when no one was watching?
The bravest thing I have ever done when no one was watching was make the decision to separate from my ex husband who had ruined our marriage by becoming entangled with a Jezebel .
I made the decision to permanently separate when after a argument with my ex husband I had taken the things he took for granted eg my 🚗 car and my dog and came to stay with my Mum whilst I hoped we would work on our marriage. I now know that my ex husband was incapable of working this out.
Probably the bravest thing I did at the time was find somewhere else to live and listen to my gut instincts about what was the best thing to do for my mental and emotional health. I developed a lot of emotional intelligence in a very short time and although it was the most challenging thing to do I know I made the right choice. Such is life.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever found randomly on the street?
This story is not about what I have found randomly on the street, but about a gift I received that the giver found randomly on the street and decided to give to me.
The background to this story is that I used to attend Brunswick Baptist Church regularly and it was the most accepting of diversity that any other church I experienced anywhere. Several members of the congregation had severe mental health issues and a few lived at Stewart Lodge, where these people who would otherwise be on the streets lived. It meant most of the pension money from these people went to Stewart Lodge.
I had become friends with a gentle, kind natured person called Theo, who attended Brunswick Baptist Church and lived at Stewart Lodge. Theo was very kind and sweet, and the more judgemental people in our society would judge him as being inferior because his clothes were old and worn. Not me though as I experienced how charming and polite he was. This was around the time that my ex husband was actively involved with someone, so our marriage was becoming crowded because there was three people in it. Theo was upset about this and wanted to give me something to show he cared, but he had no money because Stewart Lodge would only give him $5 a week out of his pension for him to spend, thus keeping him in poverty. I would ever Sunday buy him a cappuccino before Church. One day Theo came to me with a gift he had found on the street. Part of it was a tennis balled sized circular piece of concrete which was obviously thrown out by someone renovating an old fence. He gave it to me wrapped in a bit of ribbon which was the type of ribbon that a florist would use with floral bouquets. Theo gave me these things with such an innocent and gentle way. It really would’ve been considered trash by most people, but I was touched that Theo thought of me and wanted to show he cared when he had no money to a spend at all. Often I would give Theo a dollar 💵 ot to, so he could put something into the church collection plate and sometimes I would by him new socks when it was winter and he had cold feet.
I will always remember Theos kindness. Sometimes the poorest amongst us are the most giving Theo was one of Gods little lambs.
What’s the kindest thing someone has ever done for you?
I must say thay I am lucky because I have experienced a lot of kindness ❤️ in my life. Probably the most significant kindness in my life came from Susanna my passed over angel 😇 lady and friend who was like a sister to me .
There are many instances of Susanna absolute beautiful generosity, from buying a new wardrobe of clothes for me for my 50th birthday, when I couldn’t afford clothes at the time. Also when Susanna found out that she couldn’t go on the cruise to New Zealand, because of her cancer treatment, she made sure that I didn’t have to pay a cent more for it, because she didn’t want to see me out of pocket because she was unable to go.
She truly was an angel 😇 in so many ways and I spent the final few years of her life showering her with the goodwill she so freely spread to all. Susanna taught me what a truly beautiful person is and I am forever indebted to her, which is why I spend my time spreading goodwill to others.
Have you ever had someone in your life that exclaims loudly that they are a true friend but always attempts to change you, thinking that if you would just change you would be a more happy, fulfilled person. They want you to be more like them
One such girl was in my past. She as would exclaim loudly that she was my best friend but was always asumming that I needed to change.
We really fell out over my wedding plans when I had asked her to be my bridesmaid, my matron of honour. I was no bridezilla, but she certainly became a bridesmaidzilla. To be precise my other bridesmaids and flower girls were my nieces who at the time were children and young teenagers. I decided that I didn’t want a hen’s night, that I wanted a more appropriate and family friendly kitchen tea. This so called friend was angry with me because I didn’t want boozy sexy hen’s night,complete with male strippers and the works. She then decided that my kitchen tea should have a “honeymoon “, theme that my guests should bring me sexy lingerie and the like. I was mortified by this and tried to remind her that the other bridesmaids were both family and children. She got really angry with me and my brothers wife when we expressed how inappropriate what she had planned was. That whole incident destroyed our friendship. She couldn’t understand that what I wanted, a simple kitchen tea, was not the highly sexualised version she wanted.
If I am to be quite honest I don’t miss her. I now surround myself with people who celebrate who I am and don’t have the agenda of changing me
What’s the weirdest coincidence you’ve ever experienced?
Firstly I must say that I don’t believe in coincidences. Everything happens for a reason, particularly of God’s plan for us.
The weirdest thing in my life that could be considered a coincidence was meeting my support worker Sherree and finding out we grew up close to one another and both had Mr Guppy as a teacher and both remembered what a fantastic teacher he was. I owe the direction that my life took to Mr Guppy. I think Sherree and I were destined to meet up now and she has become such a wonderful support and confidante. God you brought Mr Guppy into both our lives and think Sherree and I are on similar journeys and value our shared journey
