Maree | Helensville
“I had a very close-knit family. My mum stayed home to look after me until I went to Kindergarten about four years old.
So, I think being raised like that, you just experience a really rich family life, and you spend a lot of time with relationships. We also had a big quarter acre yard, so lots of running around and space to move, and it was just quite a nice atmosphere to be brought up in.
I think I’ve always had a family that’s had to probably work really hard for what we kind of got. You know, my dad’s always worked all his life until into retirement, and our mum did off and on. Grew up with a mum who had a disability. So, I learned about, working no matter what, and putting so much into life, even when you have those sorts of things that can hold you back. She is one of my big role models, because she has done so much in life when she’s been probably in a lot of pain, and you never really hear her complain. She just kind of gets on with it, and that’s kind of what I’m like too, I just kind of get on with life. Enjoy life, and make the most of it. Live each day, really.
I actually work with children, too. So, I suppose looking at life in general, I suppose now what I see over the years I’ve been working with children, for 25 years family is becoming a lot more fractured. We don’t spend as much time with each other anymore. So, yeah as I’ve got older, I’m probably spending less time with family, because you’re spending more time trying to live basically, and same with friends. I find we don’t have as much time for that, because I’m busy working, or trying to just make enough money to basically live.
I suppose it is having that, you know, I remember our lovely quarter acre section, and just getting out on your bike, and you’re just riding around and you’re falling in the bushes, and you’re just having a lot of fun. We used to climb up on the roof and jump off, and do all these quite, sort of daring things, and just being together, having to just go out and do things like going to the beach, and hanging out and going places like the museum. We’d always do these sorts of family experiences together. It was just part of, you know, life.”
