1965 Ballarat
I had a couple of emails yesterday from a very old family friend which kinda got me feeling homesick for my family, as they all live far away. I decided to have a look at some old family photos and I came across this beautiful photo of my parents. It was taken in 1965 in Ballarat Victoria. Dad had driven mum from Kerang across to Ballarat to buy her wedding dress for their wedding in August 1965. They were running across a street in the rain and a local newspaper journalist snapped this happy picture. My Dad was very trendy dressed in his stovepipe pants and Beatle boots - with his Beatles hairstyle that he cut for himself. He was not a hairdresser but all his mates in town used to line up and he would cut their hair for them in the style made popular by none other than THE BEATLES. Mums looks so beautiful with her hair immaculate and that beautiful smile and look of youth (she was just 18). Her shoes are to die for and I would love to have that basket she was carrying and the coat she is wearing. Mum always dressed beautifully and as a little girl I remember her and Dad would often go out to a dinner dance. She would look beautiful wearing one of her beautiful long halter neck dresses and big wedge platform shoes with green velvet butterflies on them. I so wanted to grow up and dress just like her.
Mum and Dad have just recently celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. Last year my dad was diagnosed with an aggressive glioblastoma (brain tumour). He is doing well having endured surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. He is in remission and for this we are very greatful.
I too am in remission from ovarian cancer, it will be five years soon which is a big milestone. Ovarian cancer is silent, it invades your body quietly without obvious symptoms, and before you realise it, it is too late. I am one of the lucky ones who, with an early diagnosis, undoubtedly has been saved from an early demise. It is very hard to watch a loved one go through the trauma of cancer and in particular the treatments that are so harrowing. But my Dad and I are survivors of cancer at this moment in time and this is an unspoken bond that we now share. Only we know how we feel and how cancer has affected our lives forever. But there is still joy in each and every day and so many more things I want to do before it is my time to leave this life.
