Healing WordArt

“When grief and trauma are not attended to with awareness and compassion in one generation, the deleterious effects of that trauma and grief cascade through the family tree, creating a domino effect of dysfunction. ”                                                                                                                 -   Karthleen Curzie Gajdos   On Monday evening, this week, I had the privilege of attending a NAIDOC week dinner with a group of indigenous students and their parents. NAIDOC is the acronym for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee . Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920′s which sought to increase awareness in...

Birthday celebrations in my family are usually a low-key affair.   In fact, I don’t think I have ever even had a birthday party – not even as a child. Being one of seven children, you can probably understand why that might have been the case.   On the other hand, my aging mother has had several big birthday parties including one at 60, 70 and 80 years of age.   If she lives to be 90, she will probably have one of those too.   My older sister is following in her footsteps and her husband has given her a 40 th , 50 th and 60 th to date.   In some ways I am disappointed none of my children have ever wanted to have either an 18 th or 21 st birthday party.   I would have loved to made it a special occasion for them. 13 April Dilemma – Sebastian’s Party/Nick’s Birthday Earlier this year my nephew turned 21 years of age. He is in the Australian Armed Forces and had his first posting to Iraq late last year.   Since he has been back in Austral...