Wednesday, July 20, 2011

On synchronicity and my man turning 40...


When I was 22, my friend Katie and I saw a terrace house to rent in North Fitzroy, across the road from Edinburgh Gardens. It was the stuff of our dreams.

We were determined and strategic -- rather than wait for the inspection date, we decided to knock on the door and attempt to ingratiate ourselves with whoever was inside.

As we approached the front door, dressed to impress in our cobbled-together faux office-worker outfits (I seem to recall that I was wearing a white suit of all things!), we caught sight of someone familiar sitting on the internal stairs of the adjoining terrace. He was leaning against the wall, talking on the phone with his feet up on the banister.

I had met him once before, a few years earlier, at the Uni Bar in Canberra, where we had both grown up. At the time I had decided he was an arrogant prick and had been harbouring a rather too intent dislike for him ever since. Funny how strong feelings sometimes have to go one or the other.

The tenant set to move out of the house Katie and I wanted to rent happened to be playwright Hannie Rayson. As a VCA graduate, she took pity on two entirely transparent young art students searching for a house to rent and recommended us to the landlord.

The rest, shall we say, is history...

(Left: The kids I ended up having with that not so arrogant after all and in fact rather delicious man living next door.)

Yesterday that man on the staircase turned 40, and I was privileged to wake up next to him for the I-don't-know-how-many-hundreth time.

Not a bad way to spend a life.

(And many years later, just to come full circle, the darling Hannie Rayson launched The Divided Heart. If only I had a recording of her incredible speech! Does anyone remember it? I was too nervous to really take it in but I do remember that she was brilliant and hilarious.)

6 comments:

Trish and Rob MacGregor said...

What a moving story, with such layered synchronicities. You have to marvel when the universe works so seamlessly.

Best,
Trish MacGregor
www.synchrosecrets.com/synchrosecrets

Frances said...

40?
Well, now that he's got the preliminaries are out of the way he's ready for the next step forward.
I assure you that the older you get, the better life is: so there is something to look forward to. And somewhat different from popular and media opinion, I know...
A beautiful photo, by the way. There is something so elementally rapturous about children, the sea, the sky.

Red Hen (dette) said...

What a beautiful story! I love it.

Anonymous said...

What a lovely story!

I remember your man on the staircase from college in Canberra. I don't think he'd remember me, we never really talked and I was the year below, but I had a friend who had a massive (and never requited) crush on him for pretty much all of (their) year 12.

And then another friend from college (who was the year below me), connects me to you - funny the way these things work. :)

Rachel Power said...

Ha, Kirsten! I'm secretly pleased yr friend's crush was never requited of course. That might have changed the course of my life! Though I'm sure Al was completely oblivious. In fact, for someone I stupidly deemed so arrogant, he is especially shy. Ah well. Lucky me! (I hope yr friend found someone else gorgeous to love.) How's Canberra? :)

Steve Holmes Boom said...

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