Humans of Blue Mountains – Bridget.
It started when I was doing some sport and I hurt my left knee. My ‘friend’ hadn’t contacted me over the week that I was laid up, and that wasn’t nice of him, so I said to the girl on the switchboard, “the first blind date that rings up on Saturday night, call me!”. It must have been a slow night because at quarter past nine that night she called me down and I talked to this guy. He had a voice like chocolate, you know, it was just beautiful, and so we chatted.
I put him through his paces; asked him how tall was he, and what colour were his eyes. I didn’t ask his weight, not that that would have mattered because he was very sporty too. He had also hurt his leg! Mine was the left and his was the right, but he asked if I would like to go dancing and I said ‘absolutely’. We went to a place called ‘The Rock’ and it was a wonderful night.
That was in the August of my last year of college and he then was posted out at the end of the year to Victoria, the bottom end of Victoria, and I was posted out to Penrith, there was that big distance between us, but that didn’t stop him. He drove the first weekend up and back. The next weekend he did the same, but it was costing him too much money in fuel, he couldn’t afford it. So he thought “alright I’ll hitchhike”. So for the next 11 weeks, every weekend he hitchhiked from the tip of Victoria to Penrith. He used to get in about 11pm on the Friday night and then on the Sunday afternoon he would hitchhike back. But he was going back later every Sunday afternoon, so after 3 months his Commanding Officers were wonderful and they posted him to Richmond and then to Kingswood.
We were married at St James’ Catholic Church in my home town. He was very good looking and very charming, and such a gentleman… I thought ‘oh my goodness he’s gorgeous’! And he still is still charming, still a gentleman, and he still treats me like a princess 50 years later.
I started volunteering at CatholicCare originally to be of assistance to those impacted by the 2013 fires. As time went on I found it kept me focused and current. Good things are done for the community in which we live, and new friends and acquaintances are made.
With thanks to Bridget and CatholicCare.
