Memories of the Farm as You Leave it Now, Forever.
Just a tip of the iceberg of memories from me to you, my beautify daughter, Julie.
It is nearly three years since my daughter lost the love of her life, her husband, Anthony. The agonizing decision to sell the farm, fortunately to wonderful dairy farmers who are next door neighbours, has been made.
The white kitchen table
The black and white kitchen tiles
The very green bathroom tiles
The deep comfy easy chairs
The grandfather clock
Anthony’s smile
The dogs
The many wooden picnic tables in the garden
The roses
The artificial tomatoes hanging in the kitchen
The fan whirring
Lunches at the white kitchen table
Driving down the farm track with anticipation of Sunday roasts
Playing table games with Anthony watching but not taking part
Playing “Thank God You’re Here” endlessly
Anthony’s smile
Admiring batch after batch of Ming’s intricate and exact drawing of the hundreds of Pokémon characters
Wondering what new hairstyle Ming would greet me with all through primary school
Anthony’s benign and constant onlooker smile
Christmas ,recreating your own childhood with bulging pillowslips at the foot of the bed, and even more packages piled high around the Christmas tree for an only and much beloved child, Ming.
Ming sitting on Anthony’s knee at every stage of his life, the huge teenager nearly swamping his dad
Baby days watching Ming attempting to crawl, toddle, tip over, run in the green lawns
Looking through the trillions of baby photo books
Generations of sausage dogs
Family parties in the garden or crowded into the kitchen
Ming wishing the cousins would come and then hoping they’d go
Anthony’s amazing 75th birthday party and the crowds of well wishers
The speech Ming made about his dad before running off and bursting into tears
Anthony’s smile
Your post wedding party when so many turned up to wish you well
The many pizza parties with truckloads of pizzas delivered
Anthony proudly showing me the once a year flowering shrub….once a year
Anthony presenting me with the best and biggest bloom from one of his amazing azalea bushes
Watching Anthony through the windows as he slowly circumnavigated the huge garden changing the hoses
Games in the old dairy with the little cousins intrigued with the circular gate
Dear old Arthur, the hired hand, and seeing you take out to his little farm hut, delicious meals on a plate
Going with you to all Ming’s primary school events
Watching Anthony, so unwell, attempt the long walk over the oval to watch Ming’s sports day
Anthony’s glee when you served him lashings of crayfish with your special thousand Island sauce
The special meals you made for every birthday of Ming or Anthony and always asking me to come
Ming doing his daily spelling homework….reluctantly
Baby Ming confined to the dog’s yard, his playpen
The splash pool and how Ming could only swim underwater
You playing footy with teenage Ming until you were crippled
When you turned the property into a bird farm, the exotic white peacocks displaying their incredible tail fans , the masses of other exotic birds, the ducks, the fierce gander, the peahens, turkeys, pheasants, emus, the losses and tragedies, the visitors coming to look, Ming’s hatred of the poo
Gasping at the parklike vista after each mowing
You being first time Mum at my 60th and baby Ming stealing the show
The pet miniature pig that grew to epic proportions
Ming’s two primary school amigos, always so courteous and sweet to his Grandma
Ming running to open the gates when he heard my car turn into the driveway
And doing the reverse for me when I left
The two gentle Llamas with wool to be clipped once a year
Ming’s two huge back surgeries and the anxious care as he recovered at home
Watching your face crumble as you watched the taxi carry Anthony back to the nursing home time after time, when it got too hard to drive him yourself.
Looking through dozens of baby photo albums
Taking the injured pet turkey to the vet to be fixed, just at Christmas time one year, a huge irony
Being cared for by you on the farm, as I recovered from my broken hip
Meeting Gar, the autocratic mother, who became devoted to this unique young housemaid
You sitting by Gar in the hospital as she died, something too hard for her family to do
Meeting all the older siblings and relatives over the early years, and the young ones like Simon and Christine, Biddly and Macca
Auntie Dorothy. The dozens of times she came to stay.
When your book was published and my pride
Anthony’s beloved garden and lawn
Anthony holding toddler Ming up on the fence so the old cow, Reject could suck his fingers almost to the elbow
Anthony’s smile
You sitting cross legged in the hall, behind the closed door, while Ming mused on things important, as he sat on the loo
The way you and Anthony adored each other, he the much older man, your hero, and for him, the lovely young thing, waiting 16 years for him to notice you’d grown up to become his bride
The death of Inky, Ming’s first beloved sausage dog
Ming’s green hair in Year 4,and his comment that now the kids would respect him
Admiring the framed footy jumper presented to Ming when his number was retired with honours, as footy was no longer possible after back surgery
Sitting next to you at his final Grammar School assembly when he was called foward to receive the special Headmaster’s Award.
And these last years…..
The absence of Anthony
Oh, the absence of Anthony
And Anthony’s smile.