Family

WARNING - not just another diary entry. From the heart and personal with a question to leave you all pondering.

If you are a regular reader then you will know a few things.
1. when I started this I didn't quite realise just how many people could see it. It still surprises me when people comment to me about my blog.
2. I am the black sheep on one side of my family (or maybe both, i'm not sure.)

I got special request (i was told by a cousin - you know who you are!) that I should write about seeing all my cousins this past weekend.

What I did I do this weekend? - I saw my cousins - on my Dad's side.
We gathered at a family home in the suburbs. Beer and BBQ birthday celebration. Yummy grilled chicken, face painting and children running everywhere. Reminiscent of scenes from our own youth.

We all grew up very closely. Everyone came to our place because my grandfather lived with us - the pool and my mothers hospitality and need to feed people was just a bonus.

I recently (finally) transferred all our family super 8 footage to digital format and had a weekend of memories and nostalgia with my immediate family. (yes - I will do  a cousins' edit and get you all DVDs. EDIT - Coz I don' t think any one needs to see me having a bath when I was 3 - I'd destroy it but I was just so damn cute!). There are visual memories of my extended family gathered for birthdays at our house, cousins running around playing together at the playground or in the pool and huge family picnics that we used to do quite regularly. Embarrassingly, yes this includes one of my Brother's favourite memories of 3 of us performing Abba songs on the picnic table in the park (no names necessary)

These days I don't see them very often and I felt that we had drifted apart. Many of them are still quite close, so I guess it was just me. Y'know how families get together for weddings and funerals and similar significant big family functions. We haven't had either of these in our family for a long long time. I think mine was the last wedding and we all know the end to that story (if you don't scroll back through past blogs and follow the clues). I digress. Coincidentally many of these cousins weddings occurred at the same time as I was living overseas. I was invited (i think) but was not in the same country so missed out on the introduction and acceptance of their spouses to the family. This means I don't know their spouses very well and therefore, their children.

This side of my family is very different to the other side;  conservative is not a word I would use to describe them and I think they are much more "Aussie" than my mother's side. The only real link to our cultural heritage is our appearance and our love and appreciation for food. Despite this I still feel like a bit of a black sheep. I don't completely belong here either. I don't know these people, not anymore anyway. We have some amazing shared memories and history but it's been well over 20 years since we all played together. Is that enough? We still care about each other and it's comfortable enough when we do see each other. We are not part of each other's daily lives but we will never be completely separated either - is it simply because we are genetically tied or is there some significance in the early childhood memories that we shared?

I honestly cannot answer this question. But I know the memories are strong and very precious to us all because of the way we talk about them AND because my cousin's new house has a big pool and yard for all the kids to run around in so they can have the opportunity to create the same kind of memories that bond my cousins all  together. So I guess I did answer the question.

told you i was cute!

it's been a while

random balloon i found tied to a car

I know my blogs have been fewer and further between posts but I've been a busy little monkey, ok?
No, not ok - I can't accept that as an excuse.
I originally set out to write every week for a year and I did that already so anything I write now is just a bonus. Let's see, last year munkysay went quiet because I was working my little munkybutt off and didn't have much to say coz my munky brain was fried. The January blog is good and saw me at the beach a lot and making the most of Summer in Sydney. The Byron Bay Blog is ok but I didn't really like it so I didn't push it on Facebook.

Now, I am still between projects and keeping very busy developing some of my own projects. The weather is changing and I am less motivated to get to the beach coz my hair and swimmers don't dry as fast as they used to and I don't like being damp. With no regular income I have had to give a few things up - like the gym. That wasn't a tough decision. I didn't really fit with the whole eastern suburbs-ness of the gym I was going to. And I think I only like the classes because someone tells me what to do for an hour so my brain gets a rest. But I have a few other things in mind that I should try. I trapezed again and learnt 2 new tricks - one that I can do and another that I will need to work on.

Kids parties - I have been to 2 of my nephews birthday parties recently. The first one was a tribe of 7 year olds running around a playground. I was stupidly hungover but managed to make lots of balloon swords for them. I made a conscious effort to NOT attend the next one hungover despite the cocktail night beforehand. Considering it was a rock climbing party and I was to be a responsible belaying adult I thought I should have my wits about me. Someone needs to teach these kids the terrible effects of excess alcohol don't they? Would you rather they did it themselves??

glowsticks in the caves

Anyhoo, the kid I was belaying didn't like heights so made 2 attempts, then went for the caves. I was free. So I did a climb. I cannot remember the last time I climbed but it was with a friend who is no longer a friend so it's been about 5 years maybe? Well, I am claiming that it was higher than any I had climbed before. about halfway up I am thinking, "do i really want to be here?". But I carried on and made it to the top then looked back to my ant looking belayer and came back down. Apparently I looked confident and capable enough but I also made the decision that I don't need to do that again. Trapeze I like, Rock climbing I can live without. So let's try the caves. No, let's not. Some of them are pitch black and involve squeezing yourself through narrow gaps and contorting your body into unnatural positions. I did 2 of the easy tunnels with my 3 year old nephew - even that involved darkness and some comando crawling on my part.

always time for cocktails

Moving on - I went nuts selling lots of stuff online. I have been doing lots of cleaning out and chucking out of what can only be described as stuff. I got our family super 8 film converted to digital format. This has led to a trip down nostalgia lane. And to me having to tidy it up and do a little editing.

I went to a hen's night. Another social ritual that baffles me a bit but there was a hot guy taking his clothes off in front of me so I didn't mind at all. Nights out with cocktails and or beer. Some that got me in trouble but not nearly as much trouble as i would have liked.





I made wontons - sorry no photos - you've seen them before on here. Due to my money saving tactics I have not been eating out much and cooking lots more which is great. I think I'm making Thai beef salad tonight.

I am writing lots and actually logged on here to get some material. (cheat!) There may be more coming later this year as I hit the big 4-0 and my friends are insisting on throwing a party for me and also reminded me that I had this great idea to put together a photo exhibit for my 40th and they are holding me to it.

So much to do!!!!! And so much time to do it in right now - Noice.