The Many Hats I Wear

I’ve had quite a few people find their way to my website this week just gone. It’s probably a good opportunity to introduce myself in more detail. Mostly I am a mum, wife, teacher who also happens to reside in Western Queensland, but I wear many other hats as well.

Wannabe Writer: Several years ago I started a blog to serve as a kind of journal about my seemingly unique experiences as a city girl making a life in the country. As it turns out, my unique experiences were anything but. There appears to be quite a few of us figuring this whole ‘Farmer’s Wife’ bizzo out. I have been fortunate enough to be able to have many of my musings published, which is not only great for a laugh, but also great for my ego.

P&C Mum: I try to limit my involvement in local community groups to a number just high enough to stress me out moderately, but not enough to send me into a complete state of meltdown. The P&C is one of those groups. I am passionate about my children’s education and find the P&C a welcoming, fairly straight forward commitment. This committee involvement has (at some point or another) also been the Show Society, Kindy Committee and Rodeo. It evolves with our social dynamics.

Soccer Mum: I’m not really a soccer mum. We only have JRL out here, so we spend winter weekends for a few months of the year travelling huge distances to watch our kids have fun kicking a ball around, and I definitely don’t misbehave on the sidelines. When the weather warms up, I swap my hat from JRL mum to swimming mum. The kids pretty much just swap boots and ball for togs and a towel. Same same but different.

Friend and Neighbour: There aren’t too many people out where I live. It pays to get along nicely with the small number of people who surround you. If you run short of bread or milk or barbeque flavoured rice crackers, a good relationship with the people next door is the difference between a 20km round trip, and an 80km round trip. Thankfully I actually really do like my neighbours.

Given all the different hats I wear, you would think that I actually wear a bunch of other (real) hats as well. I don’t wear too many hats. (Or rather, I don’t have a favourite). Incidentally I don’t wear an Akubra. I never have. But I’m definitely considering it, and actually, if I really think about it, it’s the hat I am most looking forward to wearing.

If you have any other questions for me, I’d love to hear from you!