Daughter-in-law

Had a chat in the car with my little fellas earlier this week. The topic of our conversation? Marriage. It seems to be a rather dominant conversation topic in our home, along with trains, Mario, Sonic, planes, and jail.

I told the boys that when I was younger and thought about what kind of man I wanted to marry, I wanted to marry someone kind, smart, with a good sense of humour, someone who wanted children and who would put family first.

I asked the boys what kind of qualities they would like their future wife to have.

Tony was quiet for a moment and after some thought he said he wanted to marry someone who wanted to have children, who was a hard worker, who was a nice person, who didn't break the law, who didn't smoke or swear, and who could cook. Oh, and someone who liked Mario and Sonic.

This seemed like a pretty good list to me. I think I would be pretty happy with a daughter-in-law like this.

I asked Carter the same question. His list of qualities was much shorter. He said;

"I want a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket."

True villains

Tony and I watched 'Rumpelstiltskin' a few weeks back on YouTube. He hadn't heard the story before and found it very interesting. We then watched 'Hansel and Gretal'.  Tony was gobsmacked with how awful the stepmother was. He had seen the 'Hansel and Gretal' movie at his Aunty's house but I could tell he really couldn't fathom the idea of a mother leading her children out to a forest and left to starve just because there wasn't enough food to feed all four of them. What a horrible, horrible woman!

I agree.  It is horrible......if the story is accurate.

It seems that the story we hear is the children's side of it all. I'm not saying its completely wrong, just that if we heard the step mother's story, perhaps we wouldn't view her as such a villain.  Let's give a fellow mother the benefit of the doubt - we all know what kids are like right?

I see flaws in this story which lead me to believe Hansel and Gretal may have taken a few liberties in their story.

1.  They WILLINGLY went into the woods with their Father and Stepmother and when told to stay there as their parents left.....they did.  One word here raises doubt to this story.

 Obedience.

  Not likely!

2. When they overhead their parents planning the night before they were taken into the woods for the first time, they gathered white pebbles to help them find their way back.  Now I can't speak for anyone else but my boys can hardly plan where to put their next foot when walking, let alone plan to outsmart a supposed 'nasty' Stepmother.

3. The lack of bickering.  At no point in this story do Hansel and Gretal argue, bicker, or tease me another.  This story has GOT to be false.

It's not that I think the whole thing is a big fat lie.  I just think it didn't quite happen as we have heard it.

Suppose 'perfect' little Hansel and Gretal didn't take kindly to their new step mother.  Suppose they refused to eat the nutritious meals she slaved over.

Perhaps they WERE sent out into the forest, but only to find berries, and they wandered off and decided to muck about for hours on end and get lost.  Instead of wanting to get in trouble, perhaps they made up an elaborate story.  Yes, it's a good story.....but it REEKS of childish imagination. I mean a house made of sweets with a witch inside to lure unsuspecting children?

COME ON!! It sounds a little too convenient to me.

For all we know, this poor step mother could have just sent them out of the house for a moments peace.  Just a quiet hour to clean up the never ending mess, to be away from the never ending barrage of questions;

"What can I eat?"

"Where is my other shoe?"


"I want to play the WII but its not working properly! Muuuuummm can you fix it!!"

(I know WII didn't exist in 1990 but MAYBE Hansel and Gretal had one in old time Germany??)

Perhaps she just wanted a moments peace to go to the bathroom alone or shower without having to referee arguments over who is Peppa Pig and who is Brother George.

Now I would never send my children out to the woods alone! I'm not condoning this at all.  But I see flaws ind these stories we are told and the more I think about it, I am pretty certain Hansel and Gretal is a story passed around by these two cunning children to get their Father back to themselves and become little heroes in the meantime.

Or maybe I am wrong.  Maybe they really did outsmart their parents, find a house of lollies, and defeat a witch.

Maybe I just have too much time on my hands.

On this day

A post from Anthony:

The fourth of June is a date of significance for me.

It is the day that I celebrate my beautiful wife's birthday. It is also the day that I lost my elder brother some 13 years ago. 

I remember waking in the middle of the night to see two police officers telling my Mum and Dad that there had been accident and that their son had been killed.  I will never forget the pain that I felt that night.  Equally I will never forget the love shown to my family in the immediate hours of our tragedy. The strength of character that I saw in my parents moves me to tears as I think of it.  While their own hearts were broken for the loss of their son, they  remained stoic as one by one their children would wake.  As each child would wake and come down the stairs Mum and Dad would explain to them what had happened that night and that Gene would not be coming home.  I cant begin to imagine what they must have been feeling in those moments but I am forever grateful to them for their amazing strength. Without anytime to deal with their own pain they began to comfort and strengthen their children and reassure us all that things were going to be ok.

The example of my parents on that June 4th night in the year 2000 helped to shape me as a man.

Jo never met my brother Gene. I first met Jo on the 15th of February 2004.  Less than a year after our first meeting, she would become my wife.  While I have been married to Jo for 8 of the 9 years that I have known her, it is strange to me to think that it has only been that short.  It feels like we've been part of each others lives for much longer than that.  I never knew her as a child or teenager but when she is telling our boys stories from when she was younger I feel like those stories are a part of "us".  It's not just that they are familiar to me in the sense that I have heard them before either.  The stories and experiences of her past have helped her to become the beautiful woman that she is now.  I love everything about her- and all the things that have lead her to be this way.  She is the strongest person I know. 

We always joke that we would never have been friends growing up- but now I can't think of life without her in it. Happy birthday Jobags! 

On this day I am full of gratitude for two people that I love dearly.  One that I was lucky enough to call my brother and the other my girl.

Birthday Blues

So my 29th birthday is coming up and I was thinking to myself;

"Hmmm, 29 isn't that old right?  I mean, having a 7 year old can make me feel old, but I know that in most peoples opinion 29 is still on the younger side."

I was feeling good about this.

Enter Tony.

On Friday night, the movie 'Suddenly 30' was on.  I asked the boys if they wanted to watch and they seemed interested.  Early on in the movie, Jenna (Jennifer Garner's character) wants to be older.  Her ideal age is 30 (ahh the stupidity of youth).  To try and make herself appear a little more...ahem...mature, she stuffs her bra with tissues and is busted by her Mother.

My clueless boys found this baffling and Tony asked me;

"Mum, why is she doing that?"

I gave a simple, yet what I thought was sufficient, answer.

"She is doing it to look older, like a grown up woman."

He gave a laugh and shook his head at such a silly idea.  Then he stung me twice in one comment as he replied;

"That's dumb isn't it Mum.  Look, you only have little ones and you're old!"

So this birthday I have been reminded that I am old AND in Tony's opinion  flat-chested.  Thanks Tones.....thanks a bunch!