Today is a special anniversary.

Thirty-five years ago today our family arrived in Wellington, capital city of New Zealand. We were probably a fairly typical bunch of Poms setting out on a new life in a bright new world. From what I can remember we were all very thin and quite pasty. We’d flown for what seemed like days and we were exhausted.

I don’t remember much about the journey … new crimpolene and polyester outfits … climbing onto a rickety old Viscount at Teeside Airport … vague memories of Heathrow … my little brother destroying a cardboard travel cot … damp heat and guns at Bahrain … a cherry flavoured fizzy drink, boys kick boxing and strange toilets in Hong Kong – or was it Bangkok? … Brisbane and Sydney were a blur … a bumpy, windy landing at Wellington.

I remember boarding one last plane and flying to Napier. We were met at the airport by my father’s new employers and taken to a large home on Bluff Hill for dinner. Apparently we four kids were pretty dismally behaved and there were incidents with nutcrackers and someone put her feet up onto the table.

We spent the next week in a motel in Hastings. I was overwhelmed by winter sunshine and the sight of a clear blue sky. There were lemons, oranges and grapefruit growing in ordinary gardens. I tried to work out if the 50 cents pocket money my parents gave me compared favourably with what I received back in England. While I didn’t miss my old home I did miss my grandparents.

Thirty five years is a long time. Along the way I have collected (and consequently shed) a husband. I have kept my three beautiful daughters and wonderful son and they make me a very proud Mum. Some of them have, in turn, started families and from small beginnings we have grown into a real Kiwi whanau. We tragically lost my cot-busting brother and sometimes family relationships have been fraught with the usual difficulties. Now though, I have a fabulous partner and we have a calm and peaceful home. I’m lucky enough to have some very special people in my life – both family and friends.

I’ve learned a lot of stuff. Many of the things I have learned in my thirty five years in New Zealand I have changed my mind about and deliberately unlearned. That’s been true particularly with some of the attitudes and values that I, and my family, learned early on in our new homeland. Many of the skills that I have are self taught and because I’m an impatient and poorly focussed student I have a wide (but not always deep) knowledge base (I’m having ‘professional’ guitar lessons …  again). I did get a degree and spent a few years teaching primary school children. In recent years I stepped out of the classroom and started a business – still working in education but as always I can’t quite define what it is that I ‘do’.

Thirty five years ago my parents literally turned my world upside down because they had a vision of a new life in a land that offered us all new opportunities. I didn’t participate in that decision but I am very glad that Mum and Dad made the choice they did. In the years since, I have made some similar life changing decisions and in each case I have never had any regrets. I hope my own children see the opportunities in the choices that I made on their behalf.

Today is a special anniversary and I thank my parents for their foresight and their courage.

“To understand your parents’ love you must raise children yourself.“  -  Chinese Proverb

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