Hi Honey, I'm Home!

I'm ba-ack!
And I'm a little lot weary.

Last week there was a lot of talk in the blogosphere of 'finding my tribe'.
I loved the heartwarming posts about the Aussie Bloggers' Conference and could clearly imagine how wonderful it would be to be in a room full of people and feel like you belonged.

I was very fortunate to find my tribe 24 years ago at a tiny little Catholic teacher's college called McAuley College.  I was 18 and very nervous about leaving home, moving to the city over an hour away and living at the Rez with a lot of people I had never met before.  I can still remember Mum walking out of the door of my new bedroom, and feeling very alone, very lost and very scared.

The Rez

But it didn't take long before I met a whole bunch of kids that I felt an instant connection with.  Some stuck, others didn't. And now there are eight women who I feel are 'my tribe'. We've shared houses/flats/boyfriends*/weddings. And in some cases there have been gaps of 10 years between seeing each other. Yet every time we do, I feel like it was last weekend not last year or 10 years ago. We have a history, we know each others' stories, it feels like coming home.

Our girls' overnighters/weekends came to be a few years ago. Four of us live in the same city, two in cities not far away and three in cities/towns/farms too far away. We didn't get together very often, less and less once all the babies came along.  So the annual get together recently evolved and it is the most wonderful thing.

This one began when Dancing Queen's car broke down and I wondered if I wasn't meant to go.
But it was fixed, I went, and it was wonderful!

We caught the sunset ferry to Stradbroke Island.

My tribe

And had a big house all to ourselves for the weekend.

Our faces are older but everyone still looks the same to me.
We slip easily into old memories and new stories.
It feels so nice to be totally comfortable being yourself.
For a whole weekend I am not 'Mum', I am not 'Wife', I am 'Friend'.

I look to Group Leader for the plan.
I laugh at the quick one-liners from Worst Wife**.
I marvel at Gidget's gorgeous grown up girls and successful grown up life.
I admire the grace and character of J-Lo.
I love getting a mini makeover from my old housemate, Dancing Queen.
I feel the absence of my other old housemate, Super Mum.
I am so excited to see my Rez room mate, Farmer's Wife.
And I love sharing a room with Carin', I'm Sharin', together we are Carin' & Sharin'.

We did a lot of talking & laughing and a fair bit of eating & drinking.
We walked, we swam (except me), we played, we ate out and we watched Dirty Dancing!



And then the time came, way too soon, when I had to say goodbye. I had to leave a few hours earlier than the others to get a lift back to my home town with my Mum & Dad.
I had to catch the water taxi by myself*** but with a little hand holding from Gidget, I did it!

It was over quicker than it began.
And now I'm looking forward to the next one.
We did a little dreaming and came up with some grand plans.
All I'll say is watch out for us in Thailand!

* Not at the same time!
** That is what she called herself, not what I think she is!!
*** I don't like to do anything by myself.