BUILDING THE FUTURE

5.59am on a Thursday morning. Just woke up with a smile on my face! I was dreaming about hammering the cedar onto the house with special little copper nails, and wondering if they do it by hand or with a nail gun and I was hoping it was by hand. Not sure why, as it will surely cost me more. Maybe because the cedar costs so much that it deserves to be treated with the utmost care. Then I got to thinking about how cool and fun it is to be building this home with my kids being involved every step of the way. Rory as the builder, and Georgia as my consultant on all purchases and all things to do with colour and style. We discuss stuff about the house every time we see each other and often on the phone as well. What I love about it is their enthusiasm and excitement. All three of us nearly have to pinch ourselves sometimes to make sure it's real. But then I guess Rory’s aching back after a long day keeps it real enough for him. And the multitude of complexities he needs to store in his brain.

It is like we really are building our future. For me it's my immediate future, which is scary and amazing and exciting and brave, and that will change their immediate future as well. Now there will be a fabulous destination for them to take little breaks, bring friends over for weekends, and somewhere they can have a boat, get into fishing, go swimming, take nice walks, wander around the cafes and shops and streets of Akaroa. They can listen to music under dimmed lights on the deck long after this old sober Mumma has gone to bed. And I hope before the first year has passed I can organise a working bee weekend where we get a few over to help me build a cool outdoor oven/fire where we can slow cook legs of lamb, bake a ham or have a crack at making our own bread, and enjoy some outdoor ambience while we're at it.

It is with immense satisfaction and dare I say it, even a measured amount of pride, that I'm forging ahead in the creation of this home that will one day become theirs. Some say you shouldn't speak to your children of their inheritance, and to be fair, our parents didn't speak to us about ours, but the world's a different place now and I don't see the point in keeping something so obvious a secret. It is the land I inherited that has provided such a beautiful location for this home, and it's much more fun to share the excitement, and enjoy the humour. Like Rory saying "Can I put a power point over here Mum? I'll be putting a workbench in this corner one day". The thought of them enjoying the home with their families after I've gone is one that makes me smile, knowing they will always be grateful I had the guts to take the project on. As it's turning out, it is no small project either. I'm glad I didn't know too much or fully understand the complexity of the plans, or the true cost involved before I started, or I likely never would of!

The enormity of what is still to come is daunting, like the sorting out of this house in the city, and the streamlining of my business, at which I am all at sea due to my right hand man, Dave, being ready to retire after Christmas, and new staff I'm trying to get trained up continually letting me down, and not working out. There are just four weeks until Christmas and still a massive amount of preparation for the caravans to be ready for their touring holidays. Somehow I’ll get through it all and all will be well.

I am grateful every day that I eliminated my favourite hobby, getting pissed, as taking that out of the equation has enriched my life so much more in the ways that count. I am capable of holding all this together somehow, working on several other projects at the same time, handling the pressure, keeping calm, and actually enjoying the process.

I adore my children, Rory and Georgia, I am so proud of both of them, and I am very happy and grateful for the fabulous relationships we all have with each other. This is what matters more than anything. This is what counts. This is what makes for a happy life as I'm growing older.
This is pure gold for me. A big day awaits me and I am happy. Bring it on!