What is it they say about being able to pick your friends but not your family? I spent the past weekend at a 90th birthday party in a country town called Dongara which is about 4 hours north of Perth, but quicker without toilet stops. Most of us met up in small groups and car pooled which was a pleasant and economical way to travel. Having packed the car and belted up, we checked our road map for toilet stops, and decided we should go back inside for ‘just one more little wee’. I guess, at 55 years of age and the youngest traveller by a couple of decades, I probably should have guessed what lay ahead. Anyway, with bladders voided off we went, travelling in convoy to our destination via some gorgeous little beachside hamlets. With so many oldies on board we did get a few laughs along the way. ‘Let’s get lunch at the bottom of the street’ confused one car load of octogenarians who wondered why we would want to break up the trip by getting ‘drunk and showing our bottoms at the beach’. So, hearing aids were compared and calibrated and we eventually agreed to meet at the bakery ‘down the bottom of the street’. A quick stop at the shopping centre toilets was followed by a visit to the bakery where there were 7 different types of pie - but none to suit! Some were too fancy, some were too spicy, some were too foreign and some were just too different to ‘what I’m used to!’ Thank God for the ubiquitous toasted tomato sandwich and powdered coffee. Soon enough everyone’s hunger was sated and, you guessed it, a quick wee stop and we were off again. Fast forward 20 minutes, the coffee has done what coffee does best, we did another wee stop, a bit of a passenger shuffle and before we knew it we had arrived.
We enjoyed a truly wonderful weekend of birthday celebrations made all the more enjoyable by the fact that we all shared accommodation in a tourist park. There were so many stories to tell, so much reminiscing about good times, so much catching up on who has been doing what, and where, and when. A couple of my great aunts are the matriarchs of 5 generations of family. Some of my cousins, younger than me, have great grand children! And there were family secrets shared too. But most of all, there was the constant and anguished cry of ‘Is there anyone in the toilet?’
You know, many an exasperated individual has rolled their eyes and exclaimed ‘You can’t pick your family!’ Well that’s true, but despite this, and despite the bladder weakness which seems to run in my family, I wouldn’t change them either.
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