Hope

There have been so many times that I have wanted to blog moments that have recently come to pass in my little life but, if I dont record them there and then they dissolve into the next event that crosses my path.

One thing that I have been meaning to post about, that has remained strong and steady in the past months, and spurred by some of my favourite fellow bloggers is, how I got to be where I am now.

This may take a while so I am going to write it in chapters beginning with ...

The day that changed my entire life.

Going back some 11 years ago, I was working as a sales rep for a company many of you will know as Konica, I sold high volume photocopiers, faxes and printers to high profile corporations. I was a part of the whole amalgamation of Minolta and Konica. I dealt with corparate buyers, company directors, financial directors and C.E.O's of small, medium and even the likes of Price Waterhouse.

Sash was an unbelieveably cute, bright and intelligent toddler. She was surrounded by my brothers and their families who adored the very ground she tippy toed on, my mom, my cousins, babe's mom and dad, brother, sisters, more cousins, our friends, Mands, Sands, Gav, Bren, Gav, Lawrie, Tam, Heids, Jonny, oh the list is endless...

We were the first to have a baby in our group of friends so she was always surrounded by doting adults (which I guess would explain the now 12 going on 32 year old I have now).

Barry, worked as a manager of a glazing business called Northern Mirror in Parkview (for those who remember jo'eys). I remember his boss George, who had had a stroke quite early in life which had left him with a slight speech impediment. He held Babe in the highest regard and often would leave Babe for days to run the show.

On the day in question, (gee, I sound like I am making a summation..teeehee) On that fateful day, I sat at my desk in the office, and something made me pick up the phone and call Babe at the shop. I expected to hear the usual " Hello, Northern Mirror..." Instead, the phone just rang, and rang, and rang. "Thats odd!?!" I thought at the time, why isnt anyone answering the phone? Maybe they really busy, or babe is in the loo (which was a likely option)..but...even so....theres always someone to answer the phone... even if its one of the staff doing their "eh, hello, northern mirra plis wait!" before running off to call Babe to the phone.

Something wasn't right, I hung up and dialled again...again....no response. Wierd! I left it for a few minutes but something kept nagging at me to try again. Eventually after like the umteenth time of calling with no answer...babe picked up the call...

"hello??" The minute I heard the trembling in his voice and the fact that he didnt say "Northern Mirror" I knew something was horribly wrong! "Hi Babe, whats going on??? Are you ok?!?" I asked. Silence. "babe??? whats happened?!?" I could hear his breathing, it was almost stuttered, like his brain was having trouble processing what to do next. "jezuz babe, wot the fuck is going on??? talk to me!!" my heart was beating in my throat and I felt instantly nauseous.

"We've been robbed" staggering to get the sentence out whilst trying to sound calm, "They had us at gun point babe! They made everyone lie on the ground, they wanted money and guns, I opened the safe in the office and told them to take what they wanted, but there were no guns, they didnt believe me, they were shouting to show them the safe in the back, but there isnt a safe at the back and they wouldnt believe me, they kept shouting "wheres the guns!" I told them, there are no guns! Take whatever you want, just dont hurt anybody!" He began to weep on the phone, the reality setting in as he told me, " they took my wedding ring and the watch my dad gave me, the bastards!"

After establishing that everyone, although very shaken up, was ok. Nobody was hurt. Thats the main thing. Life had become such a valueless commodity to these criminals that getting out alive was indeed a blessing.

That night, we spoke, we weighed up our options, we examined the possibilities, we valued our family's worth, we instinctively and deliberately made a choice to protect that which was and still is our most prescious of posessions.

We decided on that day, that we would pack our '5 things' we would sell everything we couldnt carry with us, and we would leave, our families, our friends, our home, our country, everything and everyone outside of our small family unit we knew and loved and go to London, England.

So began the end of all we had ever known, for a little thing called hope.