A story in four parts 1...
Do you have a moment in time, a significant song, that when you hear it you
instantly know where you were and what you were doing. What was the song? I
mentioned it in an earlier blog about certain songs and memories but not my full
story.(..or my abbreviated story!)
My moment in time was, is, and always will be Paul McCartney singing The
Long and Winding Road....I’ll explain the significance.
We, my Parents and myself, were about to go on an adventure; an adventure
of a lifetime. Leaving the shores of a country we had grown up in and moving to the other side of the world from the UK to New Zealand. A difficult decision and one we were so unsure of it came down to
writing YES and NO on two pieces of paper. Maybe not the best way of making a
decision but it literally came down to that! I forget who picked what piece of
paper it may have been me I’m not sure...anyway the choice was YES so a decision
had been made good or bad; there was now no turning back.
Dads brother and his wife migrated many years earlier and they kept asking
us if we were interested also. Their letters always sounded so grand written to
my grandparents that we thought well why not..
We were renting in a council flat..state house as is known here..the only
home I had ever known..notice was given...furniture sold, some things that we
had to keep, personal bits and pieces, were packed and shipped and on their way.
We stayed with my Dads sister and family for the remaining couple of weeks in
the UK. It was while we were staying there, and I remember my small and
temporary bedroom so clearly, that I wanted a song to remember forever that
would be a defining moment for me. A defining moment at the end of one chapter
and the beginning of a new one.
The Long and Winding Road came on the radio and I knew that was to be the
song. My defining song. Now whenever I hear that song I am instantly back in
that small bedroom looking out of the window and wondering what lay ahead.
We, my Parents and I with my Aunty, walked to a local park and we all had
to put our hands on a certain tree. I thought it funny at the time but it was
just to be a connection so that every time my Aunty walked in that park she
would see that tree and know the significance. I was never to see her
again!
I remember the car that picked us up as we waved goodbye to catch the
train. Happy and nervous at the same time. Looking out of the train window I
hoped, we all hoped, we were making the right decision as the green fields
passed by as we sped along on our way to Southampton docks like so many before
us. I looked across at my Parents and wondered what they were thinking. I
remember it so clearly as though it were yesterday but many, many years, have
passed and it is still as clear in my mind as it was then on that sunny
September day.
The long and winding road had begun...
(to be continued...)
Comments
Post a Comment