Sunday 4 April 2010

Sunday scribblings "Mentor"

G'Day,
This weeks prompt is the word "Mentor". Wow, I could think of quite few people who have been mentors for me at different times in my life. I also would like to be a mentor, but I don't know if others would consider me that.
I guess my first and foremost mentor is my Mother. She can be such a silly annoying person at times but I guess that she, above all others in my life, has been the person from whom I have learned the most. She is the person who moulded me and taught me my moral base, for better or worse, who taught me to mother, to clean, to cook, to drive, all that stuff. Yes she is annoying but I guess, like me, she always tries to do he right thing as she sees it.
The next name that came to mind was my old next door neighbour when I was living in Urana. My adopted nanny Fox. She is gone now, but she was a good woman. I leaned on her quite a bit in those days. She supported me with my boys when they were toddlers. She and I used to have cooking sessions. She was a great old fashioned cook and one of my favorite memories of her was one day when I was trying to cook a sponge cake and they kept sinking for me. We decided that the oven wasn't sealing properly and we sat side by side with our feet resting on the oven door to keep the heat in while the cake was cooking. Funny. Other times... I was such a wimp.... haha, she would come in if I called her, to catch a spider and kill it for me, she was into her 80's then. I was terrified of the big huntsmen spiders that lived in our house at the time, they can get real big, with a leg span of 6 or so inches across and they drop off the ceiling and run fast. Brrrrr...... Then I decided that my boys were watching me and I had to be brave or pass my fear on to them, so from then on I learned to kill them myself. Now it does not bother me at all, I squish them as soon as I see them. My altruism does not extend itself to saving spiders, hehehe. We would also talk gardens and plants and I used to take her in to Corowa when I went to my pottery lessons to see her daughter Kate while she was living there. I had two other older women out at Urana who were my friends and my children's adopted Nannies, small country towns are great like that. I was a very young Mum when I moved to that town , in my early 20's and was away from my own Mum for the first time.
Hmmm. Other women keep coming to mind. Women need women the same as men need men don't they. Older women have life experience that is vital knowledge to younger women don't they. Be it for child rearing, house keeping, relationships or just for friendship. Mums, Aunties, sisters, cousins, sisters in law, neighbours, workmates, friends, acquaintances. We are all so important to each other. People need people. We all mentor each other in ways that we do not recognize at the time but we do appreciate. Thank you all so much.
Nowadays we find some of these people inside our computers, even if they live on the other side of the world to us. Unheard of and unimagined just a decade ago. People are great aren't they.
Granted....we all make mistakes, and sift through a lot of people that pass through our lives. We have the choice whom we let into our heart and those whom we choose to exclude. Exclude for many reasons and "boy" can I think of one toxic person who is a thorn in my side at the moment but there are lots of good people out there. Count your blessings.
There is a saying going around
"People come into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime......"

I get these as email type thingies passed around from friends quite often, I am pretty sure you have all received them too and you know the sort of thing I am talking about. It is nice to know someone is thinking of you, just a little reminder that there are people out there. Nice.
As far as myself being a mentor. Well I dunno. Maybe, I would like to think so. But..... I would also like to think that I encourage others to think for and work things out for themselves rather than influence them to think the same as me. It is a strange world we live in isn't it? We are all different and we are all the same. Those differences are to be embraced not discouraged.
**************************
Tomorrow is Easter Monday. I am excited and looking forward to seeing a concert by Carol King and James Taylor tomorrow night in Sydney. Sydney is the big smoke. About 2 and a half hours drive from here. I am going down there in the morning and will hang about in the city until tomorrow night for the concert. Fantastic. A blast from our musical past. These guy are legends. I will be staying overnight in Darling Harbor, which is just a short walk from the entertainment centre where the concert is being held. Ooooh can't wait.
Bye.
Love Linda.

12 comments:

Jae Rose said...

Happy Easter Linda I hope you enjoy your concert tomorrow. I loved your writing - I especially like the idea of the virtual mentors we all have nowadays. It's an important part of our lives I think..Jae

Miss Robyn said...

Lucky you seeing Carol King! I loved her when I was a teenager.. and wish now, that i had bought tickets. enjoy!

Americanising Desi said...

Happy Easter dear!

virtual mentors are actually real than the real ones!

Merciless Mentor

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

The value of a tight community is the ready availability of real-life mentors, such as those you had. Lucky you!

We lose a lot of that in the big cities, but although the internet isn't a perfect substitute, it helps bridge some of that gap.

Happy Easter!

anthonynorth said...

Mentors are so important,aren't they?
Happy Easter to you.

keiths ramblings said...

Your mentors served you well! Enjoy that concert.

Denise Moncrief said...

Carol King and James Taylor. I'm envious. I've never seen either live.

Like you, I've had some great women in my life. My mother is a bit cracked, but like you, I can now see how she taught me what I needed to know to be a mother.

There was another Denise in my life that pushed me to be a better role model for my children.

There are others. Some of them I've only met over the internet.

Ah, spiders--the only good spider is a dead spider. IMO

George S Batty said...

Old Grizz likes to read your blog. Your mama may be a little funnly but she raised a prety nice daughter. Happy Easter and I hope your concert is everything you expect.

Old Egg said...

This is a great post. It was as though I was sitting down with you and you were talking directly to me.
I was nodding, making encouraging noises and I hope interjecting with words of advice too!

Tumblewords: said...

A delightfully aware and honest post. People are important to us, no matter where and when. Enjoyed the read! I'm so sure you had a wonderful concert day and evening!

Bimbimbie said...

Hi Linda, you're right, we can all learn from one another. Look forward to hearing about the concert*!*

Anonymous said...

It's Carole, with an E.