Half ‘n half
It seems fair enough to say that my life has been split into halfs, 0-40 and 41-80, the first half was all about me and the second all about family, it’s also pretty certain that had I have not come to Sydney in 1974 there would have been no second half; and I’d probably have been dead long ago and who’s fault is it that I’m not? The best friend I ever had and the only person I ever really loved, not that anyone would know it, my wife Kerry who got a mention just a short while back.
Strangely I can never ever recall having told her so, somehow it seems superfluous and not necessary. Seems to me that people who keep telling each other how much they love each other are actually trying to convince themselves that they do or still do. Does that sound supercilious? I don’t really care.
I’d never come across anybody quite like her before or since; she is utterly and completely selfless, which seems to confirm the age old scientific dogma, like poles repel, unlike poles attract. I was nudging 40 when first we met and she was a tiny thing in her middle twenties, and from my first conversation with her I knew that she was what I needed, obviously I was right for once because we’re still together after just on 40 years (reminds me of the old Cockney song ‘Dear Ol Dutch’ , that includes the line “there ain’t a lady livin in the land that I’d swap for me dear ol’Ā dutch! and starts with the line “We’ve bin togever now fer forte years and it don’t seem a day too much”).
Kerry is the second child of five, she has an elder sister and 3 younger brothers and it was the closeness of Kerry and her siblings and her longtime War Widowed mother that got me, Her father finished the war as a TPI Serviceman (for the non-Australian followers thats. ‘Totally and Permanently Incapacitated’) and died in tragic circumstances still relatively young in 1967, leaving her mother Desma Alice a widow on a TPI War Widows pension.
This in itself forged a bond between the siblings and their mother that is unbreakable.
But it goes even further than this, the same love and respect shared by this family spread to the extended family, and when I say extended believe me it is. Desma, Kerry’s mum, was the second of five sisters born to a Mr.& Mrs Christopher Love and as you would expect they became known as the ‘Love Sisters’ and these five sisters were very close.Ā Kerry’s mother having died in November of 2014 at age 93 Ā left the youngest as the last survivor going on for her 90th,
So once Kerry had accepted the inevitable, namely me, I was gradually introduced to aunts and uncles, cousins, first secondĀ and third, they seemed endless and all were close, I’d never experienced anything like it, never a nasty word spoken just delight in each others company.
And how was I introduced? Kerry would usually introduce me to everybody as “my Brian” Ā and quite truthfully I am Ā Ā Ā 
and as such I was readily accepted as one of the family.
We came together quite easily once Kerry had accepted her fate and the commitment was made on both sides. Naturally as I was, as far as I was aware, still married having heard nothing to the contrary in the preceding 12 years so divorce proceedings were put in place. Not knowing any Sydney solicitors (lawyers for the Yanks amongst us, although at times I think solicitors is more apt but I’m not going into the whys of that here) I opted for some bloke in Dee Why.
I’d become quite the Northern Beaches type by now, and naturally he dragged it out as much as he could once ascertaining that I hadn’t been divorced and was therefore still married with a slight increase of more than double his original quoted fee.
As you can imagine Kerry coming from rather a large family immediate and extended was of the Catholic faith, but she was not what you might call strict however she did request that all children born from our upcoming union be baptised/christened in the Catholic faith and be educated in Catholic schools. Though an atheist I readily agreed, I had toyed with the idea of becoming a mick myself many years earlier so it didn’t particularly worry me.
What I wasn’t told though was that it would be me that would be doing all the church going, Kerry marrying outside her faith and marrying a divorced bloke wouldn’t be accepted by the church any longer.
One day in May, Kerry and I and her two youngest brothers David and Ian as our witnesses went across to Circular Quay and to the ‘Registry Office’ and were quietly wed.
Heres just a few pictures, at random, taken over the years
LordBeariOfBow 
Quite the story, and well told.
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Thanks Emilio, I’m off to the hospital in an hour so and will catch up with you in a couple of weeks or so, Cheers B
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Take care, and see you in the flip side.
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Looking forward to it, Oh and by the bye EJ you mightn’t have noticed but PiedType who barred me from her site has been commenting; only on the last blog I did, seems she has cancer too.
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She has a separate blog detailing her struggle with cancer. I follow them both, and comment on both, but more on the one where she is dealing with her surgery and treatment.
. . . not sure what to make of the smiley . . . but then, I hate them things, so I’m not up on their meanings.
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What smiley? Now bugger off Emilio I’ve got to get ready to go out. š
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Good move, but you closed with a comma.
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Happy now?
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On the eve of your surgery, This is a very nice blog, Not that i would expect anything to go wrong, but nice that you left this for Kerry to know. Saying my prayers for you and will be waiting to hear all is well.
Love ya
Lisa
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Thanks Lisa not long to go now hopefully back in a couple of weeks, thanks for all the good wishes and encouragement. Im actually feeling fine and confident, hopefully not too confident š š
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Dear Brian a beautifully written love dedication I have ever read, and the photos only confirm this. Good luck and a speedy recovery. with the very best and full of good health wishes Ira
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Thanks Ira all will be well š
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Brian,
will be thinking of you today. All the very best. Don’t forget to ask Kerry to send Ira and me an SMS when you are well enough to receive visitors and don’t be shy to tell us when to leave (i.e. “bugger off”), when you tire of our company.
Neill.
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Ira was around the other morning she had some problems with her computer and I gave her the phone number to ring to enquire after me, I doubt I’ll be a pleasant sight to see but I look forward to you’re visiting me Cheeers Brian
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Great post and wonderful memories, Beari. Take your time to recuperate and we’ll be hear waiting for you.
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Thanks gp.
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Like it or not, Beari, I’m thinking of you.
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Dear Brian,
Thank you for this lovely post, and for your interesting, fun blog. I have long enjoyed reading it, and your comments and thoughts about mine. I have always appreciated your honesty.
I pray you are now recovering, resting comfortably, and regaining your strength. All my best wishes.
Here, I have turned roguishly inward recently. I don’t know what to say on my blog, so I simply haven’t written a new post. In fact, I’m wondering whether I should just do away with it altogether. I don’t seem to have your ability to be open without spilling everything.
Anyway, sending light to you and yours.
Tootles for now!
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Thank you for the kind words and good wishes Pamela. I’m pleased that you enjoyed that post, it was one I felt needed at the time, although I doubt Kerry approves which worries me not a jot :roll:. My recovery from the gastrectomy is coming along slowly and is expected to take some 6 months. I’m hoping to do some “inside” posts of the joy in having ones stomach removed š
I like the idea of turning roguishly inwards I do think that it makes for better blogging and posting, the hrdest thing is the first word of that post once you heve that the rest follows; and when you’ve finished you can either post and to hell with what people think or think about whether to post or not, but don’t think too long. If you upset some then that’s the way of things just do what you want and know to be right. I may a bit of a hash of it at times but thats my aim. Good luck and happy blogging. Cheers Brian. š
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Brian,
good to see you back on your computer.
They’re back to censoring Ning,I’ll send you some of the evidence, for your amusement; that is if jt hasn’t been removed already.
Neill.
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It’s not feeling good yet get very tired very quickly. š¦
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*Neill Francis*
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. . . you’ll have a long wait if waiting to feel god . . .
Seriously, sorry to hear. Hope things pick up soon enough.
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can always rely on you ej š what I need is a decent feed and a glass or two of red trouble is………………….
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Likely, that’s what got you in your current pickle . . . or is it pickled?
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both probably!
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A lovely post, Brian. The snapshots are great, too. I only wish they were a bit larger. I see where you found your gravatar image, and especially like the pic of you and Kerry on the bus! Sounds like Kerry is just what the Dr. ordered. I see you were going through it when you wrote this post. Glad to know you’re on the other side now, and still writing up a storm. š
Cheers!
Elouise
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Actually it was not a bus but a barge in London, they have, as you probably know, a great canal system in England, and we took a ride on one of the barges down a canal past the London Zoo.
If you click on the pictures they will become bigger in another window.
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Oh! Thanks!
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