Spring has Sprung!

For all of us lucky people living in the Southern hemisphere, it looks as if Spring is here at last!! I don't know about everyone else but although we have such a short winter, I'm always so glad when it's over. I feel low and gloomy (and I think my family will vouch for that!). Being a typical Aussie, my blood obviously craves the warmer weather.

So it was with great joy that I jumped out of bed this morning full of life and vitality and with a spring in my step that I handed in my very first assignment! Perhaps the weather added to my sense of optimism but optimistic, I felt. However, as I walked back to my car after the lecture, with the heat of the sun bearing down on my unprotected head and the persperation slowly making its way down my back, I got into the stinking hot car and my optimism turned to annoyance. Annoyance that very soon it will be Summer and swelteringly hot and no matter where I go for a reprieve, it's going to be sticky and sweaty! I don't even want to THINK about trying to get into a bathing suit!!

There is no doubt the weather affects our moods and emotions - is there anywhere I can go where it's just Spring all year round?

The Meaning of Life

For the last couple of weeks, Teenage Daughters 1 and 2 have been making their own way to school and this morning, as I took out the bin, I watched them walking off down the street together. As their checkered little figures got smaller and smaller, I remembered a photo I have of them both when they were in years 1 and 2 at school - their arms wrapped around each other, kissing each other on the lips - smaller, chubbier versions of who they are now and it dawned on me that my babies are growing up! Somewhere in amongst the blur of mortgage repayments, jobs, babies, sports days, illnesses and school activities, my little girls have turned into adolescents and I thanked the universe for allowing me to create happy, healthy, well-adjusted little people.

As I lovingly picked up their dirty laundry, their wet towels off the bed and washed their cereal encrusted breakfast dishes with a tear in my eye, I realised again what the true meaning of life is - it's not stressing about lectures, exams, assignments or how much I have to read - these are merely gap-fillers for the truely important things - my children and the adults I am preparing them to be. As the gap widens at an ever increasing rate and I know the next couple of years will become another blur of graduations, weddings, births and deaths, the image of my babies walking to the end of the street, becoming smaller and smaller, will become another image etched in my memory.

Now, I'm not stressing but I must get back to my reading!

D'OH!

Well, I'm one week down! My first day proved to be quite emotional - as I sat in that tiny little lecture chair, I almost cried! It was almost as emotional as getting our passport applications lodged.

First lecture - Great Books. First great book - 'Odyssey' by Homer. Yes, I was aware Homer was a Greek bard as well as an ever popular contemporary cartoon character and if I hadn't done this course, there is no way I ever would've picked up a piece of Greek literature - 18th and 19th century are more to my taste - not c800bc!!. Be that as it may, once I came to terms with the concept of the mortal and the immortal world, I am actually really enjoying it. The workload seems to be pretty intense, even after one week. Eight chapters of the book to read before next week which is no problem but on top of that, about 14 questions per chapter!! I'm still not entirely sure if they're for us to actually answer or to dwell upon! Second lecture - Social Enterprise. An extremely interesting concept and more reading! This I have been doing for most of the day and I'm still not done. Thankfully I'm only doing two subjects to start with!! It's going to take time to settle in but hey, it's not nearly as hard as applying for a passport.

Has anyone ever NOT had trouble applying for a passport? I have been trying to get passport applications processed for the kids for about 4 weeks and correct completion of the application alone surely requires completion of a Degree or two. After getting together relevant birth certificates, name change certificates and marriage certificates and obtaining about 20 copies of these certificates; correct sized photos (no smiling, please); signatures witnessed and just about every other piece of identification needed to prove who we all are, save fingerprints, I headed to the post office yesterday for the 4th time only to be told I needed an appointment (which nobody had been kind enough to tell me the last time I went in), upon which I could've jumped across the counter and put my hands around the clerk's neck! However, being the mature age student that I am, and in my new-found rationalism, I calmly made an appointment and returned later in the afternoon and, thankfully, had it all lodged. However, it all seems too good to be true and I'm waiting with baited breath from the Passport Office to tell me something's not right and asking for our actual fingertips!

All in all, a great week. The housework has gone on the back burner, the kids are on a rigid roster and Supportive Husband No. 1 is happily on shopping duty. Yes, I know I'm lucky - Marge Simpson, eat your heart out!!

Woman on Wire

When I made the decision to go to uni, I thought my family would just have to fit into my new schedule, you know, like they tell you when you bring home a baby for the first time - they have to learn to fit into your life, not the other way around. Well, judging by my experience this morning, being my first day at school, I think uni will have to fit into my family life and the balancing act is about to begin.

After spending the best part of last week preparing for No. 1 Son's sleepover birthday party, having zero sleep because of said party, getting two hours sleep the next night after collecting Teenage Daughter No. 2 from a dance and dealing with No. 1 Son's sleepless night because of the headache he had from the night before - I awoke early this morning almost refreshed but not quite. After trying to rouse everyone up to get ready, I felt like a tightrope walker balancing my way across the wire, precariously, trying to get to the other side (not quite as graceful as Madonna, but with almost as much dress sense) without falling, to the thrill of an expectant crowd below.

By the time I had had my liberating first morning coffee, pulled my moaning, Monday-itis children out of bed, made lunch, straightened my hair, worked out what to wear, made sure everyone had breakfast, I was well and truly starting to suffer from first day jitters and even beginning to wonder how on earth this was going to work (and I haven't even had to deal with exams or assignments yet!). Lucky Supportive Husband No. 1 offered to drive them all to school. Upon sitting in traffic for 20 minutes and having to navigate my way through the city to get to the other side of town, I felt well and truly nauseous.

After finally finding a park and doing some well deserved deep breathing, it all went pretty much up-hill from there. I found the lecture theatre with some time to spare, made a friend (a grandmother no-less who doesn't look that much older than me) and am back to feeling the confidence I felt when I first enrolled. However, I have a tutorial tomorrow and I know the wire is at the ready and, oh look, here come the clowns!!!!!

Mutton-dressed-as-lamb to the slaughter

As the beginning of the Semester looms ever closer, I am faced with my biggest decision so far. No it's not, How do I actually do an assignment or Do I need to raise my hand when I want to go to the bathroom - it's, What should I wear? There are a few dilemmas to be taken into consideration. If I dress age-appropriately e.g. as I would going to work or for a parent/teacher interview, I risk being mistaken as one of the lecturers (or somebody's mother). However, if I dress to blend in with my fellow students, I risk looking like mutton dressed as lamb. Then my mind wondered to the Madonna. How does this mature-age material girl decide what to wear? Whether she's scouring orphanages in Africa, doing pilates with Gwynneth or doing whatever she does with Jesus, I think she always looks pretty cool. This is a woman over a certain age who actually sets the fashion scene. As Teenage Daughter Number 1 recently said, "Be youself, Mum". Great advice, Daughter. Strike a pose!!!