56 years

That’s how long my Mum and Dad have been married today! Congratulations!

Mum and Dad were both born in Scotland, where they met and married. They had five children and when Robin, the youngest, was just 8 months old, they said their goodbyes to their families and moved across the world to live in South Africa. A country they had never been to before and where they knew no one but thought it might provide a better life for their family. What a major undertaking and how many people would have been that brave?

Thank goodness they were! As children we virtually lived outside. I don’t remember playing with lots of toys, we didn’t need them because we could play in the garden and explore. We used to walk down the riverbed at the bottom of the garden; climbed trees; rode our bicycles to friends’ houses or around the neighbourhood and walked down slopes on rolling oil drums (yes we were on top of the oil drums keeping our balance) and the list could go on. I don’t know what our childhood would have been like if we’d stayed in Scotland. We would have had our extended family around us and got to know them better which would have been wonderful .... but I wouldn’t swap what we had instead for anything.

When Jon and I moved to England in 1991 with two small children, I got a taste of what Mum and Dad had gone through all those years ago and they got a taste of what their parents went through when they left Scotland with five of the grandchildren in 1965. It made me appreciate what they had done for us even more.

Mum and Dad came to visit us in the UK a few times before they made the decision to move back a few years later. They live close by, as do my brother and sister and their families, which allows us to get together to celebrate the birthdays, anniversaries and Christmases but we miss our family who are still in South Africa. Thank goodness for the internet (once again) and the ability to keep in touch more easily.

Mum and Dad, I hope you have had a wonderful day, I love you both and thank you for everything you have done for us – only 4 more years to your Diamond anniversary!

xx