I’m still loving being back in Melbourne. Finding it marginally scary how little I remember – I’m putting it down to hormones and pregnancy and new babies. That is what made up the bulk of my existence when I was here last. Friends and babies.
It’s been great coming to the other side of the world and catching up with some old friends and family. My uncle and aunt came for lunch over the Easter weekend, with their daughter, my cousin. We used to spend a lot of time together when I lived here last.
Last night we had dinner with an old friend at her new house. I hadn’t even met all her children, let alone seen her new house or caught up properly on the last 10 years of news. It was just great. Again, I thought it might be hard because when I lived here, in what seemed like another life, with my husband, she and I spent a lot of time together. In fact, there was a group of us. About 5 couples and for a time we all did stuff together. We were very close during that time and being away from family meant that everybody put themselves out much more for each other and we relied heavily on each other.
Instead, last night, she made me laugh. She admitted to finding it strange to see me back on my own, that she couldn’t quite believe that it had all happened. That she found it extraordinary that our marriage had broken down, “I mean after that HUGE favour you did him, I can’t believe that he had an affair”, she said. “What favour?” I asked her. “MARRYING HIM of course” she exclaimed. “you were SO much cooler than he was, working for a record company and all that stuff, I mean the Pet Shop Boys even bought you a wedding present”….
It made me feel a little better for a minute, even if it wasn’t true.
She talked about the dementia her mother in law had. Apparently the frontal lobe of her brain has been affected and it makes her behave a bit like a teenager…..quite worryingly, by the end of her list of symptoms, which included strange sleep patterns and odd behaviour, I decided that I may have the same form of dementia.
April 8th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
The Pet Shop Boys bought you a present? What, a hamster?
Sorry, being silly. Very cool. The only rock star I’ve met was Paul Rodgers, on a Eurostar platform in Paris. He’s a rock god so I was thrilled. And he was perfectly pleasant and relaxed to chat to. No airs or graces. Very cool dude.