Monday, November 26, 2012

20 Years



Last weekend, I travelled back to my home town for my 20-year high school reunion. Let's hear that again - my 20-year high school reunion.

It's ludicrous.

It was only a few years ago that I finished that final exam, flounced my way through the graduation ball, then headed off with my high marks and high hopes to university.

It was only a few years ago that I left university - with a creative arts degree instead of the law degree I'd set out for - and fumbled through a few useless auditions while polishing my waitressing skills in the big smoke.

It was only a few years since I filled a backpack and headed north, landing on an island in the bluest of seas, to further enhance those waitressing talents and fill my bank account with travelling cash.

A few years, only a few, since, weeping and jittery, I farewelled my mum and sisters at Sydney airport and boarded a plane for Europe where I would spend the next two years working and travelling, working and travelling, and wondering what to do with my life.

Only a few years since the awful phone call from the other side of the world telling me my brother had died.

A few years since returning home, a little lost, to discover two years in Europe might sound good over a few beers at the pub, but didn't look all that impressive on a CV.

It was only a couple of years ago, I'm sure it was, that I was stumbling around doing film courses, journalism courses, writing plays, producing plays, trying to tell stories that people wanted to hear. And still waitressing.

A couple of years ago living alone in tiny inner-city apartments, scrounging to pay rent, making day-before-pay-day decisions between 'loaf of bread' and 'packet of ciggies'.

A couple of years since falling into a great job, one that I loved, and paid well, and let me have sick days and holidays and finally release the word nerd that had been trying to get out.

Only a couple of years - surely only a couple - since being introduced to a handsome Greek bloke at work one morning. Only a couple of years since we got it together to go out, start a relationship, move in together, go overseas together.

A couple of years since he made some poetic association between lighthouses and right directions when he proposed to me at dusk looking over the water at Santorini. 

And I said yes.

And I'm sure it was just the other day that my mother walked me down the aisle of a Greek church in Sydney, stepping on the bay leaves that remained from the Easter just past, and a crown was placed on my head, joined with a ribbon to the one on his head, and we circled three times behind the priest.

Only just last year, I'm sure, that we got married, mortgaged and pregnant, all in the space of a few months.

And only last year, I know it was, that our Lola arrived to make us a family, a few months ago, it couldn't be more, that we went from one to three kids in a single leap, just last week that we followed our hearts out of the city to this tiny village in the hills.

It's just not possible that 20 years have passed since that first, enormous leap into the world.

24 comments:

  1. What a lovely way to tell your story Greer. Time flies, doesn't it. I can't believe it myself sometimes. x

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  2. Sometimes I literally feel gripped with fear when I think about how old I'm getting. But just look at the great ways you've spent your time! Kellie xx
    PS I never knew you lost your brother. How devastating.

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  3. I have just learnt so much about you in this lovely Post Greer. 20 years IS ludicrous! Feels like last year I did the HSC too. Finding out your hairdresser and kids school teacher were born in the 90's is also ludicrous - shouldn't they still be in primary school!?! You've done such wonderful things in the last 20 years. I'm so so sorry to hear about your Brother. Mel x

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  4. your posts often make me teary Greer. time sure does fly and now our babes are off to school.

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  5. i love the way you have written that story. yep time really does fly doesn't it? i can't believe that in six months time i will have a twenty year old daughter, now that is scary because it seems like yesterday she was a baby. x

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  6. What a lovely post.
    I am off to my 15 year reunion this June...I can't believe that I am real grown up.
    Sometimes I still feel like an eighteen year old who is baby sitting someone's toddler instead of a thirty something year old with her own child!

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  7. Ohhhh Greer...I am sitting here bawling my eyes out....you are so talented. I love reading your blogs. What a wonderful whirlwind 20 years you have had. What will the next 20 bring????

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  8. Ahh 20 years where did it all go. Did you have a good time at your reunion? I wish that our school had of had our 20 year reunion for us this year but it didn't seem to work out. I know that when I look at my daughter who is finishing year 8 this year I think back to my years of high school and remember it like it was yesterday. I wonder what wonderful things the next 20 years has in store for you... xx

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  9. Beautifully written Greer. You have accomplished a huge amount of things in that span of time..it's making me think back over the last 20 years and realising just how fast they have flown.
    May the next 20 bring you much joy and happiness.
    x

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  10. That was so lovely, Greer.
    What a life you have lived!

    I had a similar realization the other day when I ran into a high school classmate, and realized that it had been 20 years since we were in The Crucible together my Junior year, and at the same time it hit me that my tiny baby will be 9 in 3 weeks.

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  11. How quickly time does fly, but what a blessed life you've lived so far, in good times and bad.
    I graduated high school 30 years ago this year, seems like yesterday to me too.
    Here's to your next 20!
    xx

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  12. gosh, i'm in tears, so beautifully written, Greer! my version of this would be so incredibly boring ;) so nice to learn so much about your interesting self. have a gorgeous week :)sarah

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  13. Wonderful words - such a beautiful post Greer. Have a wonderful week! Elaina xo

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  14. Oh Greer...you do write beautifully. You really do. I have a lump in my throat. But what a lot you have done in 20 years, all that living and loving. xx

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  15. You have such a beautiful way of writing! I went to my 20 year reunion this year too and it made me reflect on how privileged I've been. Thanks for taking us on your journey.

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  16. beautiful words Greer. Time seems to get faster the older we get.....I remember time going so slow as a child :)

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  17. wow, you seem to have packed in a lot during those few years, imagine what the next few will bring!...

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  18. there is so much truth in this blog post. i loved reading about your journey and identified so much with the waitressing and the wanderlust...

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  19. Scary isn't it, how fast life flies by, but they sound like rich years, that last twenty :)

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  20. So very true. I am sure it was only last year.

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  21. This is a lovely post! It did make me think of long it's been since I graduated from high school. Pretty close to 20 years too - eek! :-) x

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  22. I love the way you've reflected on the past here, it is very poetic. It's made me think about my own past, as I am entering 10 years since graduation, and wondering what I will write about in 10 years time like you have here. Such a beautiful story you have! x

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  23. Just catching up Greer and this post made me really stop and think. As always your way with words is so insightful and compelling, I appreciate gaining a deeper insight to your journey, sharing the milestones that brought you to this moment. Sometimes in the blogosphere life can seem so perfect, it's reassuring to stop and realise once in a while that we're all just making it up and making the most of it as we go along! I was fortunate to sit next to you at the Nursery, I'm loving your blog and I'm excited to see your humble shop become a huge success! Belinda x
    (PS that photo at the top of the post, stunning!)

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  24. This is lovely. I find great inspiration in this post.

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