Sand June Crafts

With Mother’s Day this Sunday it only feels right that this weeks Throwback Thursday is about my mum, Vanessa Lyn Wright and grandmother Linda Margaret Avenell.

Now and growing up my relationship with my mum is wonderful, I am her oldest and the only daughter of three children. My mother herself is the oldest child of a rather large family of 10 children. My grandmother despite her 4 feet and something inches is definitely the matriarch of this large and beautiful family. I have in my own way contributed to the numbers of the family by having 4 children. My Oldest recently married and has a child if his own.

So to date the numbers are 10 aunts and uncles plus spouses. I am the oldest of 34 or 37 grandchildren (the numbers were drunkenly debated after my brothers wedding and still to be finalized HAHA) and as you can understand the numbers from here are mind boggling!

When I married my husband 2 teenage children were part of the package and as I’ve witnessed before both my mother and grandmother had open arms for them. It’s a beautiful thing to see and when the children involved love them equally back then this mixed up and mashed up family makes sense to me.

We aren’t a perfect family and in our own way a bit dysfunctional. When times get tough, I know we all have each others back. This will be my 3rd Mother’s Day without my son Jesse who I lost when he was 18 years old in a tragic car accident. With my husband, my family and especially my mum’s support, life is so much more bearable.

My mum’s passion and talent is cooking and her idea of having a holiday is visiting me on King Island and filling our freezer with homemade baked goodies. She knows all our favs. Hubby loves Steak and Kidney and I couldn’t think of anything worse than cooking it, let alone eating it. Mum to the rescue there and you could say cupboard love grows strong here on her visits. I was as they use to say a ‘latch door kid’. Both my parents worked, I being the eldest had responsibilities around the home after school. As a teenager you can become very resentful about having a list of chores but as I grew into an adult I was much more appreciative of these skills especially when I moved into a unit with a friend who couldn’t even burn water.

My grandmother has always been a stoic, strong woman and has as the years passed had some health issues. Recently with the her diagnosis of Lung Cancer, I see a strong woman become more and more fragile. My grandmother taught me about charity and the gift of giving. Growing up she managed an aged care home for Red Cross Australia. My parents and siblings spent evenings visiting the folk there, playing cards, dominos, pool and doing plays along with my youngest aunts. We would set the tables for meal times, run the kiosk at the hospital and participate in the annual door knock. She took on at various times young girls needing a roof or sheltering from difficult family situation.

I’m proud to say I come from a long list of strong and able women. I was raised by Mother, Nana and Aunts and very proud to say they have been wonderful role models to me and my children.

Mother’s day is not just a day, but a wonderful opportunity to not only tell mum how much you love her but to also show her.

Happy Mother’s Day Mum, I love you very much xx

Live, Love and Laugh my friends,

June