Letters to Ann

Dear Ann,

I told you about my little friend, Emma, whom I have never met, but because of the cancer she has endured I have felt an infinity with her; praying for her constantly that she will have a full recovery so that she can go to school & have some little girl friends.

Because of her illness, which has been in & out of hospital all of her young life & little contact with the outside world she has not been able to mix with people at all. She, therefore has never known what it is like to play with other little girls & their dolls.

I never realised what this non contact has meant to her until her Auntie Trudy actually mentioned the fact that she has been robbed of this in her early years. I had not realised the magnitude of what little contact with the outside world really meant.

Because of the strong feeling I have for Emma I believe that some close friends of mine are also praying for her, as I am.

A few months ago Emma’s Mum took her to a shopping centre very early in the morning hoping her condition had improved a little. Not many others were really about, but little Emma was violently ill & ended up in hospital again.

I only mention this incident to illustrate how her life has been. Even young cousins her own age will not go near her for fear of making her ill. They all understand so I am praying with faith that our prayer group will make a difference.

Three weeks ago (as I write this) Emma had her sixth birthday. My friend, Pat who frequents the same hair salon, told me that she had seen Emma on video singing a special song she loved & how sad it was at the end.

Needless to say when I got to the hair salon later that week the first thing I asked Trudy if she have that video of Emma that I had heard about. Indeed she did & explained to me before she played it what transpired on Emma’s birthday.

She couldn’t have anyone to the celebration of her special day, but she had a birthday cake. Trudy showed me photos of Emma with her cake. All little girls these days want to be famous & Emma is no different so her parents gave her a really upmarket microphone.

Emma

I saw the video of Emma laying on her side as she sang one of her favourite songs right through. She knew all the words. It is called ‘The Climb’ & is about problems placed in front of us which appear like mountains to climb & how difficult the climb is. This is what Emma sang:

I can almost see it, that dream I am dreaming but there’s a voice inside my head saying “You will never make it.”
Every step I’m takin’, Every move I’m makin’ seems lost with no direction, my faith is shakin’.
But I, I gotta keep tryin’ Gotta keep my head held high.

There’s always gonna be another mountain, I’m always gonna want to make it move,
Always gonna be an uphill battle, Sometimes I gonna have to lose.
Ain’t about how fast I get there, Ain’t about what’s on the other side , It’s the climb.

The struggles I’m facing, the chances I’m talkin’ sometimes might knock me down
But no, I’m not breakin,
I may not know it but these are the moments that I’m gonna remember most, yeah.,
just gotta keep goin’ And I, I gotta be strong, I gotta be just pushin’ on. Cause….

There’s always goona be another mountain, I’m always gonna want to make it move,
Always gonna be an uphill battle, Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose.
Ain’t about how fast I get there, Ain’t abut what’s on the other side. It’s the climb. Yeah.

There’s always gonna be another mountain, I am always gonna want to make it move.
Always gonna be an uphill battle, Somebody’s gonna have to lose.
Ain’t about how fast I get there, Ain’t about what’s on the other side. It’s the climb.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep on movin, keep climbin’ Keep the faith baby,
It’s all about, it’s all about the climb.
Keep the faith, keep your faith, Whoah, whoah, Oh.

Emma knew every word to this song & what is more important she is old enough to understand the meaning of it all. What was so touching in the video is that when she finished singing it & she sang it beautifully, with her two index fingers she wiped away two tears from her eyes. I think anyone watching her would do the same, including me.

So her Mum & Dad told her on her birthday that they are putting her performance on YouTube & she will be famous!

I walked away from the salon after watching this with a heart full of love for that little girl. Then a little miracle happened. I heard Trudy calling me urgently as I walked down to my car & I turned around wondering. Trudy said ‘It’s Emma, she’s here.”

My heart leapt & I raced back. You will never guess my first words, “Oh I can have my photo taken with her?” Stupid me, I realised what I had said immediately & no way that could happen so Trudy’s daughter, Courtney, took my camera & took some photos of Emma for me.

I was so grateful as I was so emotional at actually seeing & meeting Emma that I am sure I would not have done them justice.

What had happened immediately after I left the salon was that Emma’s grandma arrived taking her for a short walk complete with mask over her mouth so she would not pick up germs. Emma did pull the mask off for a couple of moments as she was sitting on the seat on the footpath & later donned it to take her dollies for a walk in their pram.

Emma takes her dollies for a walk.

Would you believe that I almost didn’t need the car to drive home as I was almost floating on air & at that point the whole world was bright & beautiful.

I heard later that Emma was very tired after her outing, but did not have any side effects to put her in hospital again.

And more good news came when I had my hairdo yesterday. The doctors have said that Emma can have a little party & ask two guests to be present. She has now progressed to being able to walk into a cake shop to purchase a cake & things like that.

Her Mum took her into a florist’s shop in the past week & Emma immediately asked the florist “Have you been sick?” She is so used to the fact that she can’t get near anyone who may have germs.

My little prayer group are very happy with this great step forward where little Emma is concerned & all I can think of is that faith can remove mountains!

God Bless you. My love always, Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

When my friend Cheryl rang one morning to say the movie ‘Churchill’ was on at one of our local cinemas, stating that as a prelude the cinema was putting on a special morning tea & asked if I would like to go, my immediate answer was “yes.” I was all for it.

Before long she came to collect me with Sandra already in the car. Sure enough, when we arrived at the cinema, coffee, tea & cake was all set out for us. What a nice prelude to the film.

I didn’t even know ‘Churchill’ was being shown, but then I don’t watch out for what’s coming in the movie world, I leave that to Cheryl.

I certainly did know who Churchill was. He was England’s famous Prime Minister during World War II & noted for his greatness. Not only that, but during his young life he was an army officer in Great Britain where he saw action in a number of wars, British India, Anglo Saxon War, the Second Boer War & World War I.

He gained fame as a War Correspondent & wrote books about his campaigns for which he was noted. He was awarded the Nobel Prize. He was also nick named the ‘British Bulldog’.

Churchill warned England about Nazi Germany & what would happen.  So at the outbreak of World War II he was again appointed as First Lord of Admiralty. He also warned of an Iron Curtain of Soviet & influenced & promoted a European Unity. He was a great man & a very important one in that war.

I think I remember him on air during the war, making some of his speeches & how strong & inspiring he sounded. I do clearly remember all of us children in our family had to be very quiet when the five o’clock news came on air during the war. Dad would not allow any of us to speak!

So when this film was about to be shown I thought it may have been about Churchill’s colourful life, but it was totally about the retreat of our allies from Dunkirk. None of my age would forget that event in history.

When the film commenced Churchill was getting dressed for a secret meeting with President Eisenhower at a secret venue. There were very few others there. The discussion was all about the planned retreat from Dunkirk & Churchill was dead against it, stating that it would cost the lives of too many men, which he was deeply upset about & showed it.

He was very brusque & to the point & even though the President & those with him tried to influence Churchill that wars had changed since World War I that Churchill was involved in, but no amount of talking would change his opinion & he walked off appearing very rude.

This was the theme throughout the film as Britain’s allies tried to convince him on many occasions, but he was adamant & would not listen. All sorts of aspects came into it, including the weather, but Churchill stood his ground.

Then something happened. In one particular scene he was so blunt & rude to his wife that she slapped him hard across the face making a remark about the amount of whisky he drank. It was time he started to think as others did about Dunkirk.

This action seemed to have more effect on him than anything President Eisenhower & his men could do, or even his own advisors, but still Churchill was adamant in the fact that it was all wrong & too many men would get killed. He had to agree with his allies as he was to give a rousing speech on air before the event.

The other leaders were adamant too that it was going to happen & right up to the very last Churchill was the only one against it. However just before it all happened, I think it was his wife slapping him that woke him up, but he even tried to kneel down & pray & even put his glass of whisky down untouched.

Then he did a marvellous thing. When it came time for his broadcast & his rousing inspiring speech he had changed his mind & did what everyone thought was right. He gave the inspiring broadcast particularly for those who were taking part in Dunkirk & the drama was all over. And we all know the story of that memorable event in history.

That film affected the three of us, but particularly me as I am thirteen years older than Sandra (who hails from Scotland) & more than twenty years older than Cheryl, so the whole thing was probably more real to me as I realise the war affected me very deeply.

I was rather quiet on the way home from the cinema. We were coming back to my place so that I could take some puddings off the stove & hang them before I put another lot on. It’s Christmas pudding time for me.

When we got home & I was doing this we were still talking about the film & how good the acting was. It was superb in every respect & depicted so very real that I started to explain where I was & how I felt when it was announced on air that ‘World War II is over’.

At that time we lived in the back of beyond with no neighbours whatsoever. It was a place where only fishermen went. Don’t ask me why Dad decided we should live there for a couple of years, it was just us, family.

It was in that insignificant little home that I heard the news. I couldn’t speak when I heard it & went into a front bedrooom overlooking the bush & the creek while tears rolled down my cheeks. All I kept thinking was ‘the war is over, it’s over at last.’  I will never forget the emotion I felt that day.

I was relating this to my friends as I ‘puddinged away & burst into tears again, which I don’t think I have done for the past fifteen years as it takes a lot for me to really shed tears these days. Churchill was a great film & Churchill was, in his time, known as a great man, particularly remembered in that war.

He was held in high esteem & Knighted by our reigning monarch to became Sir Winston Churchill. He retired as Prime Minister (second time round) in 1953 due to illness & passed away in 1965. The United Kingdom gave him a State funeral, which saw the largest assembly of world Statesmen in history.

He was also granted the honour of being one of only eight people in the world to be given the honour of being an honorary citizen of the United States of America.

If ever this film comes your way, go & see it as it is a true story of a truly great man even if he was known as a British Bulldog!!

Loads of love, Dawn X O X O

Dear Ann,

As I sit at my computer writing this it is the first day of spring which is indicative of new life but, sadly today was the closure of a beautiful young life, that of Hannah Rye whom I have been thinking of quite a lot lately. It is a sad story, but also one of courage & a positive attitude.

I never knew about Hannah until a couple of months ago when the story unfolded in our local newspaper. I seem to have empathy with names, as I have told you about Emma & what the name meant to me. So it is with Hannah, another name I love as it also belonged to my Gran who had so much influence in my early life when my Mother brought me into this world when she was so young herself.

I was eleven years old when Gran was taken. I had no one to cry my heart out to as my Mum was taken to hospital overdue in expecting her fourth child. Our family Doctor wanted her to be under his wing when informed of her Mother’s passing.

I never ever heard what transpired when Mum was told. It is only as I write this I realise how lonely & sad this was for her as she too, had no one to help bear the grief. Mum & I were suffering the same pain at the same time.

Gran’s passing was my first experience with death & I was heart broken. I can remember thinking that no way was anyone going to take my Gran away from me. I was determined I would go to Wivenhoe Cemetery where she was buried & dig her up to bring her back home!

In my childishness I had no idea how this was going to happen, but the thought stayed with me for quite a time. I found it so hard to let Hannah Amelia Graham go as I loved her so much.

I think she knows that as all of my life I have felt Gran was close to me & to this day I find it hard to speak of her without tears. However, I also feel she has followed me throughout my life & watched over me so much so that at times when I knew I was doing something naughty I would think “I hope Gran isn’t watching me right now!”

Having told you this I realise that it could have been the name “Hannah” which first caught my eye when it came to Hannah Rye’s story. At thirteen she was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer that was terminal.

Having been through this experience myself I guess it was another reason why it caught m eye. Somehow she had gone through her schooling in the next two years & graduated so that she could attend her formal at the end of the year with all who had graduated with her.

Apparently, by the middle of this year she was very weak & it was doubtful that she would live long enough for her to attend her formal. The Principal at her school then made a decision for the event to be brought forward so that Hannah could attend, which was a lovely thought.

It was told in our local paper, The Herald, & showed photos of Hannah hanging onto the arm of one of our famous footballers who offered to be her partner. The formal was held in July when Hannah was very weak & the medical team had to give her strong medication to help her get through the evening & apparently Hannah handled it brilliantly.

The story touched my heart as it did the whole country. The following Sunday evening, when I was up at David’s for dinner, Riley was chatting to me about Hannah & what a lovely gesture this was from her school Principal & her fellow school mates.

Scarcely a month passed & on the last day of August as I walked into the Patisserie to have my lunch I picked up my favourite paper, the Sydney Daily Telegraph. The first thing I saw was a photo of Hannah making headlines on the front page. She was devoid of hair because of chemo therapy, but had a beautiful smile that breaks your heart.

I instinctively knew that Hannah has passed on. I know it sounds weak, but I was in tears before I sat down. Hannah had endeared herself through her bravery & her story affected many people. I think we were all feeling for her loving parents who had her close right to the end & genuine comfort poured out to them from our hearts. Even the media were touched & this is what I read on that day:

“Courageous Teenager remembered as a ‘shining star.”

The write up said:

‘This is how the family of Hunter Valley girl Hannah Rye wants everyone to remember the brave teen, beaming from ear to ear & full of the joy of life.

After stealing the hearts of the nation when the fifteen year old took Newcastle Knights Star, Trent Hodgkinson as her date to the Kurri Kurri High School Formal, the last picture of Hannah’s dazzling smile & twinkling eyes will be a constant reminder of her positivity even as death’s shadow loomed.

Hannah at her Formal.

We have been overwhelmed about the outpouring of love by everyone who was touched by her smile, her strength, her courage & her kindness her Mum, Rachael Rye told the Daily Telegrath.

We have been incredibly blessed as a family to have been able to fill Hannah’s last months with such joy. Our beautiful Hannah fought with such grace & dignity.she lit up our world & captured the heart of a nation’.

The Year 10 Student passed away peacefully on Sunday evening held close by her parents.’

I expect Hannah’s story is only one of many such sad cases around the world, but every now & then you get to read how good the world is with a kind action given, in this case, by the principal of the school, Tracy Breese, to hold the formal early. It certainly did touch the hearts of many.

Apparently Hannah’s Dad, Lance, is a motor cyclist & one hundred motor cyclists arrived at the funeral to honour Hannah & say say farewell to her as she was taken to her final resting place while hundreds of purple balloons were released to the afternoon sky. It was a sad day & Hannah will be remembered.

God Bless & Much Love. Dawn X O X O

`Dear Ann,

Over recent years I have made it a habit to visit my favourite cafe, Micheles Patisserie, every day for lunch. When you live on your own it is good to get out of the house for a while, just to be out in the world. It makes a break in the day & I have realised it is good for my mind, body & soul!

Rachelle, the young owner, has been very good to me over the years, saving the crosswords in the daily papers for me & also supplying me with cartons that I particularly need as storage containers for my relish & Christmas puddings for markets.

Plus the fact Rachelle doesn’t seem to mind when my friends & I sit there for hours over coffee & lunches. All the staff know me & my likes very well.

Of course, I also know the staff well. They have become friends over the years. There are eight casual staff plus Rachelle herself, also her Mum & Dad, Richard & Sue. So when Christmas comes along I like to give them all a Christmas gift to thank them for their care & service.

Richard & Sue have become ‘constants’ in the patisserie for well over a year since their daughter became pregnant & ever since little Spencer was born five months ago. It has been like a little family with the clientele adopting Spencer when he first appeared three days after his birth with his wobbly litttle head & not able to decipher anything in his new strange world.

His Mum feeds him well; he is played with by many who talk to him, bounce him & take him for daily walks, particularly his grandmother, Sue. He is a good baby & smiles at everyone who fusses over him. For sure he won’t get spoilt!

We all love the little fellow. I even got to have a nurse of him the other day when his granddad passed him over to me. Wow, I had forgotten how heavy little babies can be & could hardy contain him. He knows me, doesn’t call me Dawn yet, but I am teaching him almost daily to wave ‘ta ta’!

All of us who frequent his Mum’s patisserie & although we are not biased, think he is the most perfect baby & realise that in no time at all Spencer will be making the coffee for us all!!

So that’s the latest development in that corner of my world. Over the years I have developed some very good friendships with some of the folk who make regular visits to the patisserie.

Firstly there was Richard & Sue. Richard loves cooking & shares with me some of his fare. Apart from his chutney, apricot & strawberry jam, I swear he makes the best marmalade in the whole wide world. I am not a lover of marmalade but I do love his recipe. In return he loves my Curried Zucchini Relish & particularly my Christmas Puddings.

Sue too, has become a real friend. I will never forget what happened when I came out of hospital over two years ago, David walked me down to the cafe ever so slowly while Rachelle & Sue watched. They hadn’t seen me for months.

Sue came around from behind the counter saying “Well you never gave us a hug when you went away so how about one now?” That was so nice & for me unforgettable. These two parents could not do more for Rachelle. I guess when little Spencer is weaned & toddling around we will not see so much of Mother Sue as she will no doubt stay at home to mind the little fellow.

I used to watch one of the customers who frequented the patisserie almost every day & finally learnt that he was David. I would see him order cakes & coffee. I often see his wife, Roslyn who I have met since, come in & catch him, chastising him as he is a diabetic.

He isn’t a serious diabetic & loves my Christmas pudding. Around the festive season I carry slices of it in a piece of Tupperware & when I offer him some he never refuses. He would make hay while the sun shone when Roslyn went over to New Zealand to spend a week with her Dad who is also a diabetic & because of this lost one leg.

I might add that he is also almost a hundred years old & still has all his faculties. I must admit I did aid & abet David when his wife was away as he has become a good friend.

I learnt that these two good people have two cats, they are twins, Anna & Bella, but they have different coloured coats. These two cats are not spoilt: they are doted on. Bella is bigger than Anna measuring a full metre from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail.

Earlier this year David was very miserable as Anna, his cat, left home & he thought she had lost her nine lives. However, he was elated when after four days she returned home to be doted on again. She got into the habit of leaving home intermittently & David shared his concern with me saying he couldn’t understand Anna doing this when he fed her so well, he felt hurt by his beloved cat’s actions.

Early in the year David had a fall when leaving the patisserie & I didn’t see him for awhile. When he returned he had lost ten kilos & looked very grey, but was okay. Just recently he had another fall & broke a leg, so I haven’t seen him for nearly three months.

It will be a good day when he can return & have a coffee with me so we can catch up on our news together. David is twelve years younger than I am, but that doesn’t matter when we are as old as we are.

Then there is John who is my age & one of the most interesting people you could meet. When we both meet accidentally at the patisserie we make it our business to sit together. Like me, John had a very early struggle in life & is never short of a great story to tell. Other than that he has some really good jokes stored up his sleeve as well.

John & Dawn

I have met his wife, Kathy. John says she is a strange woman (tongue in cheek) because she is of the age where she could retire, but she loves her school teaching so much that she refuses to leave even though she travels quite a distance daily to teach maths in another town miles from Newcastle.

Early this year she fell over in the school ground breaking her hip. The replacement wasn’t successful & the operation had to be repeated. She is now having rehab & John has been taking good care of her throughout the whole procedures so I haven’t seen as much of him lately as I do normally. I hope all gets back to normal soon as I have missed seeing both John & David.

Then there are my very dear friends, Harry & Freda, we gelled with each other the first time we met. Both are extremely interesting people, with Freda having delved into her family history so much that she has acquired books written about some of them. These date back to when they were sent out from England for some petty theft but made good in Australia.

Harry & Freda

I have read the books & wonder how the early settlers made a life for themselves & how difficult it was. I’m all for refrigerators, washing & drying machines etc and a motor car! I am very grateful that it was people like them who settled in Australia. I am truly grateful for the country they made for us but it wasn’t easy.

When the three of us meet we never run out of things to talk about. They have keen minds & one would never know that they are in their nineties. They still drive around & have been married for 73 years. What a record! They are still sharing a good life with each other in their own home. They are a real lovely couple & I can never see enough of them.

Christine & Alistair are another couple who are at the patisserie every day & hail from Scotland originally. These two are serious people, but a lot of fun.

Christine & Alistair

The other day when I went in Alistair had just sat down & was shivering a bit in the cold of the winter’s day so I jokingly asked if he would like me to give him a good rub down. He almost jumped on the seats to lay himself out ready! I reneged so he keeps reminding me every time he sees me.

Apart from these good people I have mentioned there are others like Mick & Margaret: another delightful couple who always greets me with a smile. Often when I walk in to the cafe Mick will hand me the daily paper with the crosswords.

They also keep me their used jars for my relish. When I receive them they are devoid of sticky labels & glue & all I have to do is the sterilising. This saves me a great deal of time as the the rubbing & scrubbing to get jars clean can be very tiring & time consuming.

Margaret suffers from a debilitating disease where her limbs & sight have been affected. Once when I asked Mick what the problem was Mick told me saying that Margaret has never complained, all she ever said was “Why me?”

Mick is a devoted husband looking after her in her wheel chair & also reading to her from the daily papers. They are a couple to be greatly admired.

These are just some of my friends at Micheles, perhaps the closest ones that I have known for the longest, so you can see I don’t lack for someone to talk to. There are always more friends in the making. Today I sat down next to a lady & her companion & she straight away looked at me, smiled & handed me the local daily paper.

Then it hit me that I knew this face, as she has done it a few other times recently so I smiled back thanking her for the crossword saying my habit must be well known, She replied that I could do the first half of the crossword & maybe she will tackle the rest.

Later her companion left & somehow we found we had a lot in common! Her name is Kathryn & she makes a Christmas Pudding from her Gran’s recipe! Then said it wasn’t a success as it went moldy, so I shared a secret with her telling her what to do so that it will keep for the next ten years if need be. I also asked her not to spread that secret around too much!

I think it was a mutual feeling that we enjoyed each other’s company so much that I possibly have another friend coming up from this venue, that I have enjoyed so much over the past decade & more. Needless to say we exchanged names & phone numbers.

So these are some of the people I have come to call friends, they are part of my life. Not exactly anything exciting, but if I couldn’t go to Micheles I would be a little devastated. Living on one’s own it is good to leave the house for a couple of hours.

I think I have said this before, these mundance things. represent life itself as you age in years. They are the things you look forward to when you wake up in the morning. It doesn’t worry me if I just drink coffee, have lunch & do crosswords that I am addicted to, or whether I talk to those who have become friends, but I really do enjoy the diversion.

A few years ago I would walk to this venue but since my hospital experience two years ago I drive & very thankful that I still have the mobility to do so – it’s a Blessing I appreciate very much.

Love you, Dawn X O X O