Celebrating Thurston and 47 years in Aust
IF YOU are a regular reader of my column, you may be wondering what happened last week. The fact is that I have been in the Toowoomba Hospital for about nine days. I think I’m on the mend!
I’ve tried to get my head round why I am here.
It’s probably no clearer to me than it is to you. It appears that I fell heavily at home and my wife properly call the ambulance people to get me on my feet.
They worked with great effectiveness and within half an hour I was on my way to the Toowoomba Hospital, where I have been ever since.
It seems that I then had a heart stoppage and consequently lost several days when I was being cared for extremely well in the hospital’s brilliant intensive care unit.
I was very lucky to have such skilled medical support available and to be reassured of the quality of my care.
But, enough of that! Let’s talk of something else!
It would be a shame to go a whole week without praising one of the best rugby players of all time, Johnathan Thurston.
As I lie in my hospital bed, I have a strong suspicion that the season will finish on a very high note indeed.
Thurston has been a brilliant example of the best in professional sport in which talent is influenced by personal lifestyle.
He produces a fine demonstration for all Queenslanders of how excellent skills combined with a very alert awareness of one’s good fortune can be a model of how to be successful.
In addition to his rugby, he directs his skills to other needy activities.
And changing the subject once more – and I can’t think of an intelligent link! – I have been remembering that my family and I have now lived for 47 years in the best state and country of the world.
It’s important for us to remember that we started on our Australian life with a hope and a prayer and very little knowledge of what it is like to be an Aussie.
Whether we deserve it or not, we have been very lucky in many ways.
I have enjoyed a challenging and intellectually able job that also paid very well.
And my wife was delighted to discover that her teaching speciality had developed here in Queensland Uni!
As I lie here in my hospital bed trying to compose my next story, I am particularly aware of how important it is to make my columns personal but not obsessive.
It is delightful to see the way that professional medics and support staff go about their business with equal care given to all who need it.
It is also very strengthening to know that they are within call.
It is equally important that we recognise that self help and the will to get better are equal components of the road to recovery. I’m working on it!
To change the subject again! For me it has been equally important to have been able to spend time on the publication of my book, My Little Acorns, ($25 plus postage from Crackers Printers, or my daughter, Cate mylittleacorns4350@gmail.com) and to review everything I’ve written in it.
I think we have nearly got it right and I hope that My Little Acorns gives you some pleasure.
And finally, just a thought as I prepare this article for publication.
We are very lucky to have a newspaper that allows local ideas and opinions.
I’m very grateful to The Chronicle for allowing me to continue writing weekly stories.