What a revelationary ride that has been! I have been overwhelmed with public and private messages, phone calls, letters, cards, visits, and the kindness of strangers stopping me in the street or the supermarket. It is quite a thing to receive all of this acknowledgement. Generally speaking, as New Zealanders, we aren’t very good at accepting and receiving praise.
It’s a big part of what has fed into and created this thing that lurks in the shadows of success that we call ‘tall poppy syndrome’. I, for one, don’t buy into it. I love to celebrate the success of others. Whether it’s simply making a choice to get out of bed in the morning, having a parenting win, achieving something awesome at work, or contributing to something truly transformational on a grand scale. Acknowledging success creates its kind of magical life force. It makes us want more of it, and that in itself is something worth celebrating.
I have been incredibly fortunate to live and work in this community for much of my life. While I wasn’t born here, starting life in Whanganui from the age of 4 has certainly shaped my identity as a ‘local’. I loved my time at Field St kindergarten with wonderful warm teachers and my lunchtime toasties with Mrs Kelly afterwards while I waited for my mum to finish her shift work at Griffins’ biscuit factory.
Thank you, Mrs K, your kindness and huge encouragement have been such a steadfast and quiet influence in my life. The kindness continued when I started Churton School in its early years of formation under the inspiring leadership of Mr Church and my most loved teacher, Mrs Broome. It is amazing how school experiences shape our sense of connection and identity in the world.
Growing up on Somme Parade with a huge backyard and neighbours who became an extended family was pretty darn special. We had the Golgotha Bikie Gang living next door to us for a time and Mum did some pretty radical advocacy after a few skirmishes.
She worked in partnership with the gang and the local MP, Russell Marshall, at the time to move their headquarters to a less populated part of suburbia on Kaikokopu Rd where they still reside today (although their name has changed, among other things).
I will never forget their presentation to her that particular Christmas with a handwritten Christmas card signed by all the members thanking her for all of her support and for being so much more than a neighbour.
Mum kept that card for years, it was one of her proud life moments. I didn’t realise it at the time but it has taught me a lot in my adult life about working in partnership, about finding solutions to the tough stuff, and about how connected we all are by the commonality of our humanity.
Communities are a testament to their relationships and to their unique histories. Whanganui is filled with the richness of people and culture and its diverse landscape from the mountains down the river to the sea. It is a place where I have experienced profound loss, personal discovery and joyous simplicity.
I have also had the privilege of having the very best job of my life for the 20 years. It is the everyday connections and interactions that make living here extraordinary. Many say that we are only ever two degrees of separation from anyone in this country and that in a place like Whanganui, it is more like one. I’ll take that one degree any day. Thank you Whanganui, I wouldn’t be me without you.
