Aunt Mary is coming to town

My aunt Mary (mum's sister) and her husband arrive in the country tomorrow. It's been a really long time since I've seen them--18 years to be exact--although Mum was lucky enough to visit them in Canada in 2000.

They're going to Sydney first to visit my uncle Stanley, mum and Mary's brother. He had a stroke a few years ago and still hasn't recovered properly. Growing older comes to everybody, but I can only imagine how difficult my uncle finds it. He was a powerfull person physically and professionally; he stayed in shape by running almost every day for many years and even after 'retiring' was still in demand at a very high level as a consultant. Not being in control of his body must be frightening and maddening, but it's also hard for others as my mother hasn't been allowed to visit him since the stroke.

I know my mum is looking forward to seeing Mary. Mary's planned a few things for her 10 day stay, including a visit to Phillip Island for a few days. It'll be nice for Mum to travel in that direction as her holidays are always to the west of Melbourne rather than the east. I've also arranged to take the girls and visit on 30 October, about a week before Mary returns to Canada. Maybe I'll be lucky that day and they'll be at Phillip Island and we get to spend some time there as well. Fingers crossed!

And because a post is so much more interesting with a picture, I thought I'd dig out this old photo of Mary when she visited in late 1989. Everybody is so young: Clarissa isn't two years old and Carol is pregnant with Vanessa (Vanessa was born a few months later). Wini also seems to have lost one of her shoes! I can't wait to get a few new photos to see how we've all changed (or not!).