My Family

If I am going to be blogging about my family I think it is a good starting point to set the scene and introduce my family.

I know my kids are not going to be that keen on me blogging about them, so I will try to keep my writing about them to a minimum, but I am a proud mum of two boys, Joel and Jordan who are 21 and 17 respectively.  Both of my boys have grown to be fine young men, and if I achieve nothing else, of that I am proud.

I have been through a divorce with the boy’s father and I am now happily married to Rod.  We have been together for just under eleven years and although our marriage has its usual challenges and ups and downs, we do love each other deeply and work each day to make our marriage that bit better.

I am also a step mum to Jarrod who is Rod’s son.  Jarrod and Jordan live with us, while Joel lives with his dad only a few suburbs away.  Apart from the confusion of all the “J” names we manage to co-habit reasonably well.  We were not expecting it to be the Brady Bunch but it has been an interesting exercise for all of us to learn to live together.  Rod & I chose each other but our kids did not have that choice so the fact they have put the effort in to make this work is appreciated.

Speaking of the Brady Bunch, we recently moved house so we could live with my sister Michelle and her son Keegan.  Their surname happens to be Brady so now we are a hybrid of the Brady Bunch.  The fact that Rod now appears to have two wives is a constant source of humour among our friends.  I guess it is not that much different to Mike Brady living with both Carol and Alice at the same time.

Not only did this joint living experiment make economic sense for all of us in the ridiculous Sydney property market, but it has been really nice having some female company in the house.  It is great to be able to just pop downstairs and have a coffee with my sister while all the boys are upstairs watching bloke shows on TV.  We have only been living together for a few months but so far, so good.

My parents also live close by and I know that I am fortunate to still have both of my parents.  My mum Robyn has recently retired and is trying to find her place in this new situation.  Not one to be sitting around she is now the Treasurer for two organisations and is actively involved with a few other organisations.  I think she is even busier now that she has retired.  Mum also helps to look after my nan Molly who is 96 years young.  Given my family history of longevity I think I still have a few years ahead of my yet.

My dad Varis has been retired for a few years but also does a bit of volunteer work.  He is very active in the Men’s Shed which is a fantastic concept and he is now learning all these new skills.  They are just about to embark on my dad’s dream holiday of cruising down the Panama Canal and while they are away dad will celebrate his 75th birthday.  I am sure they will have a fabulous time.

I am fortunate to have a small but close family and a lot of what I do revolves around these special people in my life.