It was a local dance. There were only two in town of a Saturday night, the Pacific Ballroom or the YMCA. The Pacific was where they had all the old time dances but the YMCA was where the music was loud and the dance floor was shaking.
I chose the YMCA.
My older sister went to the Pacific.
I had finished my secondary education and was commencing training to be a nurse.
I was friends with some of the other girls and a few had decided to go out dancing on this particular Saturday night. I may add that " dancing " is certainly not my forte'. I really do have two left feet. But with the dance moves of the 1970's that did not matter.
A group of guys from Elmore ( a town north of Bendigo ) had also decided to head to the YMCA that same night.
So there you have it.
He asked me to dance.
I said "Yes ".
And the rest as they say, is history.
And here we are 44 years later.
I can't say there were sparks, or thoughts of " this is the one ".
It was just that our relationship evolved and grew.
We talked and danced. It was quite laughable because he had the same limited dance skills as me. But it did not matter. The night was fun. So at the close of the dance we exchanged phone numbers with the view of a definite catch up in the very near future.
Although Elmore was only a thirty minute drive away , it still threw many difficulties in the way. Especially as I did not have a drivers licence and "my boyfriend " was not flush with enough funds to have a reliable car.
After I had finished my first block of schooling I moved in to the nurses home at the local hospital. The downside was shift work would be involved but the upside was that I was now living out of home.
Back in 1972 ( it was pre mobile phones, so contacting people took some planning ) there were pay phones ( yes those old fashioned phones that you had to drop enough money into the slot or you would be disconnected) down in the huge entrance hall and if another student was around when the phone rang , the yell would resonate around the building for the lucky recipient. If you were not quick enough someone would hang up the phone if they wanted to use it, and you would have to wait until the phone was free and then hopefully return the call to whoever you guessed had rung earlier.
Mind you there was no privacy with the phones as they were in a busy thoroughfare , but even at home there was no privacy as you sat on the floor in the hallway with the phone connected to the wall by a very short cord, with everyone able to hear a one sided conversation.
Staying at the Nurses home we were governed by many rules.We had a slightly later curfew on a Saturday night but you would cop it from the highest in charge if you did not return on time. It was entertaining to see all those fun loving girls returning from the Saturday night dances. Cars would line the street with the girls saying good bye to their boyfriends. And the gates were closed and locked at the required time. So lights out and all quiet.
I did eventually leave the nurses home and move back home.
It was great when I finished my shift to see the blue and white EH Holden station wagon parked out the front . How nice to be picked up by my fella.
When I had my days off my new love would come to stay if he also had days off. But he would have to sleep on the couch. Even though the 70's were free and liberal, try telling that to my father. And I did think it was wise not to get on his bad side.
On days when we were heading off for a drive we would quite often have my little brother accompany us, as my mother would be working and it was my job to take care of him. There were no harsh words about this arrangement as that was the way things were. Mum needed to work and my brother needed someone to take care of him. So the pair of us were quite happy to have my little brother travel around with us.
At times I would catch the train to Elmore and spend time off up there. Not much to do in the small town during the day, and on your own, but I obviously found enough as I stuck it out.When we had free time together we always found plenty of areas around Elmore to explore, either alone or with friends from the town. Meals at the Vic pub or the roadhouse were always a night
time treat .
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| The house at Elmore |
After many months of driving up and down the highway we decided that we wanted to become a married couple. Nope, no bended knee proposal. Just discussions about long term practicality .
So as you can gather we are not the lovey dovey flowerey type people. Just plain, basic and practical.
We decided to celebrate our engagement with a party so invitations were purchased and sent out.
No one could have predicted how horrendous the short term future would be.
The plans for our special night were all in place but alcohol and my father were soon to destroy them.
A trip home from the pub and a motor bike doing a u turn at the same time was a disaster.
Yes the alcohol limit was above the legal amount , but his actions were such a normal occurrence it never really entered his head that an accident could happen.
So the motor bike rider was in a critical condition and was conveyed to hospital and admitted to Intensive care.
I soon learned that he was a resident of that same small town north of Bendigo and known to my fiancée.
So for the next few days, every time I was, in the canteen having meals I was listening to nurses say such horrid things about my father ,as he was the car driver. I eventually just removed my name tag whenever I was off the ward. There was no way I could stand up for his actions or support him in any way, even though he was my father.
Sadly the motor bike rider passed away .
Due to those events we had no choice but to cancel our engagement party.
So yes, the tentacles of alcohol stretch a long way and destroy many lives.
And that event put quite a strain on our relationship but we came through.
We enjoyed our time together gathering household bits and pieces from small bowls to large cupboards.
We purchased many items second hand, the fridge we painted purple to go with the purple kitchen chairs.
One day we headed to Shepparton to check out a furniture shop over there, and came back with a little ball of fluff. A Pomeranian cross puppy. We had to name him Shep. I don't think Mum was amused as she had to look after him while I was at work. But Shep loved to travel in the car.
The 1970's were a time when life was a bit freer and unrestricted.
But the mother in law to be was still a firm believer of rules.
She did not drive and wanted to go to Healesville for a few days so we offered to go also. We stayed in a lovely guest house surrounded by tree ferns and lots of colourful plants. But there would be no staying in a room together for this young couple, not on her watch.
But there were weekends when we did manage to organise a trip away from our home towns.
I wonder if Mum ever twigged
It always seemed that there were powers out there that wanted to challenge our relationship.
At first we had decided to wait until I had finished my training before we got married but then we started to throw around ideas about me transferring to another hospital.
The only way I would find out if I could, was ask the Matron .
She was a very threatening person and I was soon to find out just how strict she was. Well the option of a transfer was refused point blank but then she noticed my engagement ring on a chain around my neck. She then tore strips off me for failing to ask her permission to get engaged.
Yep there were certainly some forces out there to do everything to prevent us from continuing our lives together.
So I cracked it with the hospital and quit my training.
We then felt that we could bring forward our wedding date as there was nothing standing in our way.
So August 25 1973 we were married .
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