Gladstone, QLD, April 2021
A mother must make sacrifices to have children; it’s unavoidable. In the inequality of it all, some mothers' sacrifices are far greater than those from others. If that sacrifice is appreciated, as it ought to be, then similar sacrifices will one day be made by the children, for the benefit of their parents. It was that kind of sacrifice I had to make some ten years ago. It meant that I had to give up a work contract as the station refueller for Australia’s Antarctic stations; only two or three weeks before the starting date I had to cancel. Did I do that easily or lightly? No; … I did not! It meant that my plans for my final work year and finances were all thrown into a big heap. Could I have gone ahead and still do the work? Yes, I could have; nobody would have stopped me. But it would have meant that, as her only child, I would have had to leave my mother solely in the care of others, especially the age care and health systems, in her last year before she passed away.