Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot

I'm I hope you have a really sssparkly  New Years Eve. Ours starts in just an hour. Sadly I've had the dreaded lurgy so will have to stay off the champers tonight. Well, thats's the plan...at this stage.


My friend Sue, who was famous in our day as she was the first woman to be accepted into the NZ Air Force as an officer (though she still wasn't allowed to fly!) has invited us over for a barby tonight and promises she has a recipe that will cure what ails me! It is a rum and ginger wine cocktail learned from an old barman in Ohakea. I am not convinced!!!

Spent the past few days catching up with friends from back in the olden days when there was just one channel on the telly and you stayed out playing till your Mum called "Tea time, kids!" 

Helena, Sue, sister Pietra, sister Sharon and me.

One of the friends I caught up was Helena, who I told you about before. She wrote Give Us This Day. It was brilliant to hear all about her process. Rather than rattling out the shitty first draft ( as most of us have been taught) she edits as she goes along, agonizing over each word. It works for her! We all do things differently 
and sometimes we need to stick to that.  We forget that we've found an efficient way of being and doing-- and then we want to change it totally!

My sister Pietra and Helena

Six of us from our third form (freshman) class got together one night. The year of 1975. We refer to our year as our third form year, because in those days most people left school at 15 or 16 years old to do trades, and in those times you could study nursing and other professions at polytechs too. For example in third form we numbered 350 kids but only 30 stayed for seventh form. Sadly 30 of our class have died. 

Dave, me, Shiona, Maureen and Helena (Sue went back to her bach to let out her new puppy)

The chap on the left, Dave, has been amazing. About a year ago he started organizing get-togethers, including pub nights, a weekend of events and even a comedy cruise to Australia, in the process reuniting people, some of whom lived in the same town but had gotten past the stage of even ackowledging each other ( "wiill they recognise me?")

I wont pretend my high school years were all glorious memories;  like many kids of that era I was verbally and physically bullied. It's good to acknowledge this, and other people's history too, but its also good to move on.

We had so much fun those nights. I so looked forward to seeing these old schoolmates and it was so relaxing to spend an evening with people who share such a deep history, talking about times that were pants-wetting scary, ridiculously funny, sweet, mind-bogglingly boring, and sometimes painful, but mostly stuff you can have a good old leg-slapping cackle about later....

21 comments:

  1. Great post! Just had a reunion of sorts with my old school chums. It's quite comforting to be with people who knew you before you 'became' what others now take you for.

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    1. Love that your friends have been together since High School, I wonder if you think they have changed?

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  2. Happy new year dear Jody! I love your wit and resilience and fondness for personal history, even without the sugarcoat. These trips back to where we became who we are can really remind us who we are by bringing us face to face with all the places we've been. Thanks for taking us along! xo

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    1. Love your blog post today and sounds like great things are coming your way!

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  3. How wonderful that you have kept up with so many of your school friends. With the exception of my husband, we've only stayed in touch with one friend.
    Hope you feel better. I've found that vodka and cranberry juice is usually good for what ails you.

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    1. Lots of vitamin C!

      My friend says her drinks blows all the ill away. i stayed with a few sips of wine and felt glad for it the next day.

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  4. Loving your posts from Ohope Beach! Seriously this place looks darling and I want to go! This must have been such a special place to grow up and a wonderful place now to take your kids back to....how lucky for them! Creating such nice memories and your parents look so fun and peppy! Fun posts and thanks for sharing all of your beautiful pics from this lovely place. Happy New Year to you and your sweet family! Safe travels.

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    1. Thank you MsB. Heading out for skiing tomorrow and after that a deadline but after that we must meet up. Hope you are well!

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  5. It's good to read you again. Happy New Years! And may your next year be better than all the previous years combined.

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    1. KOreen, oh my gosh, blast from the past,,,how are you?

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  6. Happy New Year.

    Best day to be together with friends & family.

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    1. Happy New Year to you and family up in the wine country!

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  7. It's wonderful to reconnect with people who remind you of who you were (and sometimes of how far you've come!) Happy New Year!! Hope you feel better today. xo

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    1. Hi Jen, loving the unicorn poops with glitter on your blog today. Must action some of those cookies myself!

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  8. Happy New Year Jody....looking forward to reading more from you in 2016 xxx

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  9. You deserve all that love in your life Jody....you have such a lust for life and an energy for living...happy 2016..x

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    1. Thank you Libby, you're a cup half full person and always so great to have around and listen to

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  10. Your comment on my most-neglected, almost grown-over, gnarly blog has made my day! Thank you dear ALW. x And, weirdly I am writing you this comment just after I have had a night with three of my friends from high-school. I know, how wonderful. I treasure these girls. As hubby says, (and your vernacular would approve) you and those girls are 'crazy as cut snakes...'. We are still a tribe and so grateful to have each other. Thank you again for visiting Flora! I think I might reinvigorate a post this week.

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  11. Facebook has helped me reconnect with some of my old school friends and it's lovely to know that there us still a connection when we chat online or even if I just see their photos.
    My favourite drink of the season this year was Cointreau, pomegranate juice and Prosecco - went down a treat. Hope your rum and ginger wine concoction cleared your passages... :-)

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