Dean had put me on the phone upstairs as we did not have speaker phone in this days and he asked me to listen because he was sure his parents would be happy for us. So up the winding stairwell I bounded with my nervous heart pounding a million miles per minute by the time I got to the phone at the end of the hall.
Having a full of stomach butterflies I took a deep breath and I slowly picked up the receiver. The voice that was speaking to Dean on the other end of the phone was a familiar one, a Leads English accent that was still pretty pommie even though Dean's father had lived in Australia since he was 17, I recognised him straight away.
Dean had already opened the conversation and I thought he had already told his English father that I was listening on the phone upstairs....hmmm but as I listened I realised that this certainly wasn't the case. I heard a concerned parents voice with his fatherly matter of fact advised being dished out on a platter to his son. John was 27 when he married his wife so looking back now I can totally understand why he was concerned as Dean was only 21. He was just looking out for his beloved sons interest and making sure he had made the right decision. I quietly hung up the phone rather disheartened by what was supposed to be a landmark phone call in our lives.
Dean spoke on the phone for what seemed like an eternity to me. I sat in the stairwell and waited for him to finish the conversation. Once I heard the click of the phone Dean appeared in the hallway. "Well Mum was excited at least" he stated with a consoling look on his face. At this point I was wondering if things were going to change for us because the words and concern of his Father was still disturbing me deeply. Deano on the other hand didn't seem fazed at all.
"We are off to Tamworth, Mum is keen and excited to meet you and so are the rest of my family." Excited was not the tone I herd in the phone... I questioned Dean's enthusiasm all the way to the Country Music Capital of Australia.
It was the furthest I had ever driven in my 6 months of driving and the most nerve racking drive I had ever taken. 6 hours of winding over the Great Dividing Range. Up and down mountains, past beautiful bubbling streams and waterfalls, through thick forests past perfect pastures and dodging uncountable amounts of road kill. Is this journey going to leave my soul like one of those squished pieces of flesh on the middle of the road? I had the most amount of anxiety that I had felt in my stomach that I had ever felt and it went on for hours, in fact it took 6 hours to drive there. Six hours of emotional road kill torture!
We arrived in Tamworth late in the afternoon. Deans father came out of the house over to he car he opened my door and helped me out and gave me the biggest hug. I gave him a little kiss on the cheek and his quick response was "I'll give you 24 hours to stop that" John with his flirtatious charm had allayed all of my fears just in that one sentence. Dean's mother Julie had a lovely big smile and hug ready for her son and new daughter-in-law to to be. All of that anxiety was for nothing.
Later on in the evening Dean's parents had planned a surprise engagement party for us with all the Aunts Uncles and Cousins.,, there was so much love in this family, I really felt like they did want Dean to be happy and were all delighted with me joining their clan. The outpouring of love and laughter washed all my fears away like the waterfall that I had passed on my journey up the mountain feeding the stream below, I felt an outpouring of love and acceptance the type that only people from the country can turn on. I was glad Dean picked me and planted me in this perfect pasture. Life for us was just beginning and it was special day knowing that I was joining this family for eternity.
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