My parents had a love story.
My parents spent 57 years happily married before we lost Mum, and then Dad passed three years and 1 month later. We always knew there was something special about their story. You see my parents had all these little quirky things about them. My Mum's initials were HJ and my Dad's were JH. They were born 1 day, 1 month and 1 year apart. They went to the same school at the same time but Dad was 1 year older so they never met.Then my Mum worked with my father's cousin and she was going to try and get them together at her wedding (unbeknown to my father), but my Dad being his own man he asked her to dance and they got together without anyone's help. That was it for them and a match was made.
They married and my Dad had a good job but someone at his work was going to be sacked because the work was running out. It was going to be another man who had a few children so my Dad put his hand up and volunteered to go.So his wedding present was losing his job. But shows what a good man he was and little did he know that soon he would be going to be a father himself.
He found a job, but it was in Darwin and they were in Brisbane. For anyone reading this that is not in Australia, Darwin is at the top of Australia and Brisbane is on the East coast so this was a huge distance.
So they needed to be parted for a while while Dad worked up there and he also had to build a shack for them to live in. It was rough and ready in the 1950's. Not the perfect place for a new couple but it was a good way for them to make some money to buy their first house.
Now comes the reason that inspired me to write this blog. We have been going through all their things to see what we want to keep and see if there is anything we can give to people to help them out, like clothes and blankets. That would be what they would have wanted because they were as kind as the day is long.
Amongst the normal household goods and loving memento's of our childhood we found the precious diamonds of their belongings.We found Mum and Dad's love letters from the time they were parted. They had a couple of months apart until they were both up in Darwin together and they wrote such beautiful letters.
Mum always told us their were love letters here but we never read them. But we stumbled upon them one Sunday afternoon and sat together and heard the words of a young couple in love. My Dad was always a man of few words as he got older but in his youth he speaks of his darling wife and his love for her. That he is sorry he forgot to tell her he loved her when he was speaking to her on the phone one night.
When you have lost both your parents and that unconditional love that you received all your life - to find these precious words that remind you of who they were and the love they shared it is the most amazing gift in the world. I cannot share their letters completely with you because they are our treasures but wanted to share the feelings they brought to the surface.
All I can say to those out there who still have parents make sure you treasure them and hug them whenever you can because one day that is the one thing that you can never get back. But you will be warmed by the memories you made with them while they were here. And listen to their stories because they are your history.
