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| The four men at the start in Perth |
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| The men pose in their training gear |
I had worked full time for many years supporting my husband in his pursuit of his dreams this would be a great opportunity for our family to celebrate and give me a long awaited break from the day to day grind of working day in and out to help support my family. However as life has it the plans for the ride did not go as I had hoped. With funding not reaching the levels as planned people who were not a necessity for the ride were cut from the opportunity, unfortunately this meant I didn't make the cut...can you believe it...Dean's wife and children had to stay behind while he was experiencing life. To say I was disappointed is a total understatement. I was devastated. I felt like I was being left once again to hold down the fort whilst my husbands journey in life was given an opportunity to fill his cup once more whilst mine stayed very empty. When I expressed this to my husband, with tears in my eyes, I sobbed at the disparity of our lives I truly felt I had been robbed. He had been afforded time to study...not once but twice...and had a dream job where his boss supported him in accomplishing a feet that not even elite athletes had conquered in the period of time the boys had allowed themselves to prepare.
My anxiety grew over the months leading up to his ride. I was sad at the opportunity I was missing out on and I was bitter that he couldn't find a way to include us in the journey. It was becoming such an issue that divorce was on the cards. I felt totally ripped off and my husband because he had been given all his life help by others to persue his dreams just couldn't understand why I would be so upset. Not even on the day he left did we his family get to wave him goodbye at the airport...because I had to go to work to pay the mortgage. Do I sound bitter? At the time this feeling (I am ashamed to say, but hey I'm only human after all) was extremely embedded in my personality. It definitely was a time I was letting my feelings get the better of me.
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| Sir Richard Branson sponsored their flights over to Perth |
The week prior to them leaving Brisbane there was an article in the local paper. Daughter number 3 school teacher gave me a call and asked me if the school could follow along with the ride. She had made a map of the journey and put it up on the classroom wall with two little tandem bikers she moved along each day to the towns the men had ridden through. She had done an Internet search and found all the media interviews that were happening along the way, the blog that was being written by their media specialist and all the pictures of Deano and his brother as the cycled across the country. The school started raising funds to donate to Vision Australia and little did she know this teacher was teaching me to get out of my head and get into my heart with some pride for the husband that had put his life on hold to bring awareness of vision impairment to a nation of people who may have been unaware of the challenges and also the abilities of those who suffer with this in their life. Yes I was tired and yes I had given up a lot over the years and yes this was yet another opportunity I had been sidelined for...but do you know what I had to see this differently and then and only then would I feel differently because these feelings were not useful to me at all. I had to see it through the adventurous eyes of a year 6 child, one who is watching two men accomplish greatness without any limiting beliefs
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| The two out the front of Vision Australia office |
As I saw the faces of the people who were there to cheer them on in each town I slowly lost those hurt feelings each day. To hear the voice of Alan Jones interviewing the boys as they were in the middle of the outback not once or twice but three times it helped change my demeanour about being the one left behind. Each day we did our usual thing, get up, get the girls to school, go to work, clean the house, do the washing and prepare food for the family, and do it all again the next day...but at the end of the day as I went to bed I would share with the girls where their Dad was on his journey and read to them the media coverage for the day. The first two weeks seemed like an eternity. It was in the third week we started to feel like we had gotten use to Dad not being there and it just felt like routine for him not to be around helping with all the housework chores that we were accustomed to before he went on his ride...(did you hear that men...even the Blind man does household chores no excuses)
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| The men stop off and rest and take a selfie on Australia's longest road |
At the end of the third week the girls and I decided we wanted to be apart of the action and made a plan to surprise their Dad. We broke my credit card out of the back of the cupboard and booked flights for five of us to meet the boys on the side of the road in our nations Capital City Canberra. We followed them from Canberra to Sydney where we were part of a crowd of spectators watching these men ride to victory via police escort through the streets of Sydney right through to the iconic Sydney Opera House. It was a joyous morning one I will never forget. The hurt and anger was literally washed away when I saw the now svelte and athletically conditioned man in Lycra come and give me a huge hug and kiss on the shores of one of the most romantic places on earth.
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| Media Picture of the four men |
Now there was plenty of media around this massive journey...these men making the record books being the first blind men to cycle across the country and raising much needed funds and awareness for Vision Australia. I will post the blog links and Videos at the end of this blog post. I just felt I needed to share with you some insight into how I personally felt, perhaps to bring some closure to an event that while it was considered fantastic for the achievement of these men, could have also been a tragedy for me personally if I let it. Six years on I am proud of their efforts and wouldn't change a thing even if I could...this experience brought to my Blind husbands attention that his wife who is always willing to give also needs her opportunity to have her cup filled. It has brought hope to many blind people all over the world that they can achieve whatever they put their mind to. The ride has taught the year 6 children at Moorooka State School here in Brisbane that in spite of the ordinary life can be extraordinary if you let it, and the ride taught me life is what I chose it to be, that it's okay to be the support crew and a groupie as long as the superstar comes home to his number 1 fan...Me!
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| The four men on the road |
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| The four men make it to Sydney |
PS I personally want to acknowledge the two sighted riders that assisted in the tandem ride across the country. Their efforts for 4 weeks helped these two men accomplish their dream and without these two men, Grant Williams and John Eder and the others that they trained with leading up to their ride it couldn't have happened. And so it is with all those unsung hero's who assist others to achieve in life today, I tip my hat to you. Often you are overlooked and under appreciated but not today my friend. I have learnt one important lesson. Life isn't about significance and it's is all about giving service with a little dash of love on the side, however it is the significance in the service where you find yourself and where you will find your greatest joy. Therein lies the answer to true happiness. "Wax on Wax off" Mr Miyagi Karate Kid
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