Addressing the ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: ME

So I just have to address the ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM- ME!
Just to letting you that we have recently moved house are settling in well in our new stake ( for those who are not Mormon a stake is a large group of people that attend church within a certain geographical area) ...just wanted to share with you today's enlightening experience...not for me but for those seated around me in conference..it was one of those surreal moments that you dream about in your worst most embarrassing nightmares. Elder Keith Walker of the Seventy  ( again for those who are not Mormon this is a man who holds ecclesiastical authority over the Australia pacific are of the church) went overtime and I was dying to go to the toilet, you know you've been there, when your kidneys start to ache because you have held it in for so long. Wearing a floor lengths skirt I said to Dean I will slip out just after the final speaker and before the closing hymn...I shuffled past Dean but his foot was on my skirt as I stood it in the hallway my skirt dropped to the floor!

 Did I mention we were sitting up near the front of the chapel...Mission president and new temple president were sitting up on the stand and so were all of Dean's siblings and in-laws in the choir...and the chapel was packed with over 1500 people....sharing with you because just thought you would get a laugh like everyone else this morning. On the upside Lorin ( Deano's Brother who is also legally blind) who in the Stake presidency could not see my mishap...and neither could Dean so at least I know two people didn't enjoy my spectacular exit!

Looking down at the fabric that once was my clothing about my loins now lying at my ankles I bent over as quick as I could yanked it back up my legs and held it close to my waist and walked as swiftly bust as reverently as I could to the nearest exit....The girls tell me that there were people gasping"Did you see that lady her skirt just fell off" but to me I was in an utter daze of shock. 

As I sat on the toilet to relieve my bladder ....nothing....nothing.... and then finally a tinkle...WHAT! I was expecting Niagra falls...the shame! Not only had I lost my skirt and now my mind and my bladder was holding out on me too. After having 4 children it doesn't take much for me to wet my pants, a sneeze, jumping up and down, running with a full bladder will do it but amazingly enough when one is exposed in church the bladder decides to hold on!

As I sat on the toilet in utter shock I started to giggle...I couldn't hold it in. I laughed so hard that when our daughter number 4 came looking for me her worried face turned into laughter too...she brought me the car keys and we walked to the car laughing all the way. I rang my sister who shared the laughter with me... I mean when something so absurd happens to me all I can do is own it and laugh!

The pubic affairs Director for the church was released today so Dean said on the Upside He feels that he has divine inspiration that I wont be called as the new Public Affairs Director, ....gotta look for the upsides when things are falling down around you

At least I am in the ranks of Jennifer Hawkins...it happens to the best of us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkUjS5v4dx0

Mortdale Public School 30 Year Reunion....those were the days my friend :)

It's been a while since I have blogged and I have many people asking me to return to writing my experiences. Last night I had a 30 year reunion with all my primary school friends. Growing up in Sydney it was highly unusual that you would go to a co-ed high school. All my friends after year 6 were girls as I attended an all-girls high school. Luckily enough though I have some great friends that are rather nostalgic and organised a reunion with both the girls boys I grew up with until we parted ways at the age of 12. It was a tremendous evening with love, life and laughter shared. Four of our past teachers were there. We were sharing our life events, showing photos of our children and sharing lovely stories of life experiences.

Everyone seemed to be fascinated that I had chosen to marry a blind man. Mrs Dixon my year three teacher had been reading my blog and had seemed touched by my story. In a conversation between her and Mrs Dwyer I shared with them my thoughts of really being prepared for my journey back in the days of primary school. You see Mortdale Public School has never been just an ordinary primary school. In my school yard there was a meld of Croatian, Serbian, Greek, Italian, Macedonian Vietnamese and a few of us left over children decadents from convict genealogy. Not only did we meld together our friendships and learnt to get along we were also from different religious background, some atheists, Mormon, Anglican, Catholic, Roman Catholic, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witness, and I am sure there are a few more that I didn't even really know about. Thrown into this mixing pot of kids there were children that had special needs both in my classroom and also in an adjoining special needs school known as Carinya. At the rear of the school there was an intense specialist English as a Second Language School and children with language delays attended the school here for intense reading and writing classes. One of my sisters attended this part of the school due to a language delay.
At lunch time our school yard was shared with children at all ages and stages of development. One teacher, Mrs Dwyer, remembered how amazed she was that the Croatian boys would play football in one direction in the yard and the Serbian children would play soccer in the other direction but cross over the same play space harmoniously as the games were played simultaneously.
For myself I loved helping the special needs children climb in and out of the timber play house and was a nominated helper often at lunch times to keep an eye on some of the children with special needs to give assistance when needed. I also really loved playing tips in the yard and catch and kiss was also a favourite game.
It was so kind of my past teachers to tell me I was a good girl in class. I always thought I was perhaps a little too talkative as all of my report cards from kindy until year 12 said "Janelle has potential but tends to talk too much in class" I had a hidden suspicion that they sat me next to boys in class so I wouldn't talk too much. But my teacher Mrs Ingram memories have drawn a little thin and tell me it was probably the boys that were naughty and needed to be sat next to a good child...how sweet of her to say.
I can easily say that my life was prepared right from the beginning with loving teachers in a great inclusive environment so when I met Dean and found out that he was blind it really didn't cross my mind to not be with him because of his disability. It was just a normal thing to do...to have him as my friend, lover and companion for life has enriched my journey, and taught me many lessons along the way. I am no super woman just an ordinary person with an irregular passion for life, dragging my life long partner in crime along with me, for the ride. Inclusiveness in society is the key...it should be a normal part of life right from the beginning so it's not an amazing thing to meet a woman who chose to marry a blind man. I suppose life is not idealistic and so my story will still strike some people as unusual.