The spirit of small towns

We have moved a lot since we emigrated from South Africa in 1999. Spent 10 very long months in Auckland and then New Plymouth, Hastings and of course Sunny Seymour here in Oz and now Shiraz City - Heathcote. Apart from Seymour and Heathcote, the others have been fairly large rural cities with residents of more than 50 000. I worked in Seymour and had to pick my friends carefully. Amazingly enough it always works out that way that I end up with fellow migrants as best friends. We landed in Seymour with Imre in tow. Already a toddler, of course a Kiwi and already a part of our new-in-town family. And then Inez came along, a Seymour girl and the community crossed the line from colleagues to friends, from stakeholders to caregivers and from sceptics to accepting. I love Seymour, always will. No matter what the knockers say. That town has guts and has never been afraid to dig its heels in. Few rural towns will stand up for themselves as Seymour does.

Now, in Heathcote, I said to the Greenie for the first time I feel part of a small community. I did not work here when we moved here, but now I do, sort of. So, made friends beyond work (which was really nice for a change). This week the care for Imre on his kindergarten days became an issue at my work (in Bendigo, 40 mins away). I was at the end of my tether and quite ready to tell my boss to shove her job, I am going to the Alice with the Greenie. Since I am putting my whole life on ice for a year for this project I am working on, I figured 12 days of trust was not too much to ask. Well, as we all know, the Lord moves in mysterious ways. On Tuesday night, about 9 pm my neighbour and her daughter knocked on our door. They said they had heard that the Greenie is leaving for the Alice and what about Imre? I said I was just trying to sort that out with my boss (in my head packing for browner pastures already). Then the daughter, whose son is in kinder with Imre, said they have come to offer to look after him for those two days. She on the one day, her mom on the other. I was flabbergasted and gobsmacked. When they left, I just burst into tears. I could not believe how good people are to us.

But, as I lay in bed that night, I remembered the flowers and constant stream of visitors I had in Seymour after Inez was born. How my colleagues at TAFE were always glad to see my kids and made then feel welcome, sometimes every day of the week. And I realised, once again, that although we are only 40 mins apart, Bendigo and Heathcote might as well be at different ends of the earth.