grandchildren – The Curry Apple Orchard

The alarm is set for 6.00 am, the first day of our time as parents of teenagers.

Back to this morning. John drove me to the hospital for my mammogram and ultrasound. I was soon in front of a machine intent on turning my breasts into dinner plates, flat both sides and then tilted both sides.

Next came the ultrasound which was infinitely more pleasant with a handheld machine slipping around on jelly coated skin. The lady wasn’t smiling at the end which had me worried. Did she see something that shouldn’t be there?

Now we are in Sydney with a long list of instructions on managing the teens starting with a 6 o’clock wake up call, breakfast, checking to see if they have everything required for school, dropping them off at the bus stop and railway station by 7.45 am. Phew! Then the day is ours until 3.30pm.

The parents were out of the house and off to New Zealand at 4 in the morning. All went well with the drop offs until I received a message to say Sebastian* had left his lunch on the kitchen bench. With the wonders of modern technology his mother was able to transfer money to his credit card so he wouldn’t starve.

We picked Cordelia* up from the train at 4.38 and Sebastian arrived sometime after 5 as he had school choir practice. He walks home from the bus stop. I helped them both with homework and study, cooked dinner, cleaned up. I’m ready for sleep.

Every day brings a surprise. I received a phone call from the Oncology Registrar.

It looks like I won’t be seeing him anymore as I have been diagnosed with Lymphoma (a blood cancer of the white blood cells within the lymphatic system). What sort is yet to be revealed. We have an appointment at 11 o’clock tomorrow so looks like a quick trip to the Gong from Sydney, making sure we get back in time to pick up the teens.

The Registrar said he was sorry not to see me again as he wanted to hear more about the Mushroom Murders.

Otherwise, it was a flat-out busy day. Up at six supervising study, then out the door at 7.45 am, dropping Sebastion off at the bus stop. We disappeared into a tunnel which miraculously brought us out at Olympic Park where Cordelia was rehearsing for School Spectacular.

Rehearsing for the School Spectacular NSW Department of Education

The day flew by and before we knew it we were driving out to Ashfield Railway Station to meet Cordelia. John refuelled at Marrickville and later took Sebastian to boxing.

Tonight was a mixture of working on Geography with Cordelia and Sebastian’s assignment on Lexus cars. I also cooked a Hello Fresh dinner and cleaned up with help from John. We are all very tired.

Now to find out more about Lymphoma. I’m thinking that the future is looking a little brighter.

Not their real names

I am indeed fortunate to have two grandchildren. The first one arrived in 2010. We were at the hospital when she was born and I held her in my arms shortly after delivery. What an exciting time! Not so much for her mother, left alone in recovery.

After twelve months my daughter went back to work. We agreed to babysit one day a fortnight while the other grandparents did one day in the other week. The rest of the time she went to a long day childcare centre.

It was an early start for us, getting up in the dark, driving to Sydney to arrive by 7.30am so the parents could head off to work. Memories of my own children came back as we settled into the routine of bathing, changing, feeding, sleeping and going for walks. We would drive back home around six o’clock at night and collapse exhausted from the effort. How do parents do that every day?

Two years after the birth of our granddaughter a baby boy arrived. Now our visits were to help our daughter where we could as she was at home for another year. She moved houses several times and I recall my husband saying more than once “this is the last move where I’m helping.”

Then she was back at work and we were babysitting two little ones once a fortnight. I remember the double pram she bought so we could explore the streets of her suburb.

Eventually the eldest was at school and after seven years they both were. The early morning trek to Sydney was no more although we still visited. Seeing the children regularly in their first five years was a privilege that many grandparents don’t have for various reasons.

Now that the children were older they came to visit us in the school holidays while their parents worked. The younger one especially, missed his parents and had trouble sleeping. I would end up in his bed or he would be in ours and we would all be walking around, eyes propped open with matchsticks the next day.

It was extremely fortunate that the Early Start Centre was constructed at the University of Wollongong just when we needed it. It was a magical place to take the children so I bought an annual membership for us all for several years.

Drama at an early age. Performing at the Early Start Centre

There was a pirate ship where they could climb the rigging, a grocery store where they could shop, a café where they could make pretend food and coffee for their grandparents, a craft area, a reading room, a Lego room, an outdoor play area, a construction site with bricks and tiles, an archaeological dig, a dress up area with lights and backdrops, a puppet show stage and most challenging of all, a digestive system where children climbed in the mouth and came out the other end. My grandson took a few visits to pluck up the courage to try that one!

Dressed up as archaeologists, UOW Early Start Centre

As I type I am looking at a photo on the wall of the grandchildren at the Botanic Gardens near our home. They are surrounded by teddy bears. We used to take a picnic lunch and have a Teddy Bears’ Picnic. I would hide the bears in the bushes and they would spend ages trying to find them. I don’t think we ever left one behind.

Teddy Bears’ Picnic at the Botanic Gardens

The other picture on the wall is of the two of them playing in shallow water at the beach. Whenever the weather was fine we would take them down to the rockpools and sheltered sandy spots to splash in the water and build sand castles.

Now the eldest is a teenager. This week the three girls (my daughter, my granddaughter and I) are going to see Julia, a play about the first woman Prime Minister of Australia. An ardent feminist, my granddaughter is looking forward to hearing the famous misogyny speech. She loves drama in all its forms, enjoys debating and performing.

My grandson is also a great lover of drama, watching and performing. He sings in the State Public School choir. Like his sister before him, he is school captain and relishes getting up on stage to make speeches. Such self-confidence is amazing in one so young but a lot of it has to do with the constant support of his parents. I’m looking forward to seeing how these young people develop and grow over the next few years. I hope that life treats them well and they are happy in whatever they choose to do.