Two Drifters

30 September 2023…a day that will live in Infamy ha ha!! Not only was it our anniversary of finishing employment but it was the day that our beloved Collingwood won the AFL Grand Final. Collingwoooooooood (as the crowd chant goes!) WHAT. A.DAY!!  I have been lucky enough to attend three Grand Finals in my life – 1990, 2018 and 2023. I was 22 back in 1990 and only obtained a ticket because Andrew’s Mum had a work connection to Collingwood. Andrew had been to a few Grand Finals before 1990 and Collingwood had lost each of them so, when they won in 1990, he told me (repeatedly) how lucky I was! It was a fabulous experience. Little did I know that I would wait 33 years for a repeat! Collingwood was in a few Grand Finals between 1991 and 2009 but lost all of them. We had no money and/or small children so we watched them all on TV. In 2010, we were in Bali on a family holiday as we watched the Granny on the TV and were stunned when it ended in a draw. We arrived back in Melbourne before ...

(^A current photo of our beautiful "fur babies" Albus, 3, and Harry who turns 2 next week). This year has brought a few things into focus and one is that I am very much “in” the Sandwich Generation, caring for and supporting aging parents at the same time as caring for and supporting adult kids. I am so glad that we sold our business when we did as the demands of the business (and the 35 people we employed) on top of the familial demands could have been overwhelming.  Parent update - Andrew’s Mum is recovering from a knee operation after a lengthy stint in hospital, my Mum is still suffering the effects of Long Covid and my Dad has had over 2 weeks this month in hospital with a few issues including a new diagnosis of an incurable (but, hopefully, manageable) disease. Side by side with all this, we had really happy events. Our eldest son (who does not live with us) celebrated his Engagement and we met the parents of our second son’s long term girlfriend. (Another Engagement in...