Coincidence - I think not!

The Prologue:

This week was interesting for a number of reasons!   I got a lot of great feedback, comments and emails on my blog last week “The Amazing Tales of Grandfather Conolly”.  It seems that the blog really hit a cord with a lot of you.   It helped spark new conversations with your parents and grandparents, it helped uncover a bunch of stories long forgotten within families but most of it helped start a family conversation with some stunning and unusual finds.   I had two great personal “finds” coming out of last week as well.

The first encouraging sign was when my eldest brother (Gary) emailed me.  He is by definition our family historian and I was pleasantly surprised given that he had over the years compiled a deep and rich history of the Conolly side of the family.  He emailed to say that he had read my blogs and that he really enjoyed the various stories, ending with his love, support and further encouragement for my writing. J

The second and most unexpected find was that one of my long lost relatives emailed me from Australia completely out of the blue, to tell me that he had been doing an internet search this week in preparation for ANZAC day celebrations in Australia (April 25^th) and had come across my blog when he was searching for information on Grandfather Conolly.   He is the great grandson of Grandfather Conolly and lives with his family in Mackay, Queensland...   I had lots to share in my email response with Mark, but it was great to uncover a new family branch just through my writing – so unexpected!

I had a couple of people tell me that the stories have helped them reflect and think differently about their personal legacy for their children; for others it’s helped act as a catalyst for deeper family conversations.  I must admit it feels good to think that my blog may have contributed to more interesting discussions and dialogue, perhaps uncovering some stories or forgotten memories.  I personally love your comments and feedback and it clearly acts as a great motivator for me so feel free to reach out via the comments section below or to me directly via email (twallis41@gmail.com)

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Growing up in small town Australia I wasn’t really exposed to the outside world much - remember Clunes was only about 500 people and to say it was “close knit” would be a complete understatement.   I personally prefer to think of it as claustrophobic….yes, I mean that in a nice way!   Is that possible?

After coming home from school my younger brother and I would raid the biscuit barrel and perch ourselves in front of the old black and white TV with all of its three channels (BTV 6 - Ballarat, BCV 8 -Bendigo and of course the mainstay of Australian country TV the ABC 2.   We didn’t always get to watch TV, usually there were lots of jobs to be done around the house – chop the wood and fill the wood box, feed the animals (ferrets, rabbits, cats, dogs, birds), go to the shops and pick up something for tea (dinner in North America), mow the lawns etc.… in fact  quite the laundry list that never seemed to end as a kid. 

On the relatively rare occasions we got the chance to sneak even 30 min of “telly” after school I had a couple of favorite shows:  F-Troup, Hogan’s Heroes and of course my all time favorite of all…(drum roll please) the Beachcombers staring Bruno Gerussi.  

Pacific ocean with the backdrop of
the rugged BC coastal mountain range

Why on earth the Beachcombers you ask?    Well, for a start the Beachcombers was based in an exotic location, and about as far from country Australia as you could get (nice start!).   I quickly fell in love (yes, even in black and white) with the stunning beauty of Canada.  I guess naively that all of Canada was mountainous; fir tree clad and with stunning snow covered peaks in every direction I cared to look except for the glistening Pacific ocean lapping at the inlets –picture perfect!

So this week I was in Vancouver for a meeting and as I was walked from my hotel through Stanley Park toward to the Fish House where the meeting was being held the sheer beauty of this part of the world struck me – not for the first time but in a way that brought back all the recollections of watching the Beachcombers as a kid (the show was filmed not too far up the coast from Vancouver at a place called Gibsons).  My mind quickly became awash with those long forgotten memories of my childhood, those uncluttered and simpler days.

The trail through Stanley Park is a
Coastal rainforest - how cool is that?

For the first time in days I physically stopped walking, closed my eyes, quieted my mind and took a series of long slow, deep breaths – taking in the smells of the west coast and connecting them with my childhood memories.  The only word that kept coming to mind was - exhilarating!  

I stood perhaps for a minute just absorbing my surroundings, soaking in the smell and the sounds of the park.  It was evident by the renewed spring in my step and the deep sense of calm that had descended upon me that I really needed that moment.   Somehow life had become too fast, too hectic and this was one of those essential pauses where you stop and literally "smell the roses” (and here I was thinking that was just a cheap cliché – nope strangely they're  real).

I’m definitely going to be looking for more of these moments – how about you?  


Are you in!