Skip to main content

Whoo Hoo!!! Congratulations Mum!!!

I'm VERY excited to announce that my mum got a promotion today, out of the blue, to full-time lecturer at our Uni!!! This is so fantastic! Mum was pulled out of school at age 15 so she could go to work and help out financially with her family (she had 6 younger brothers and sister, and a father who, while a lovely and artist soul, had substance abuse issues). She married my dad, who had not finished highschool himself (I don't think) and Dad pretty said that now she was married she had to work or be home with us kids (Dad held the purse strings, too, so her money was not her own)...

When I was about 8 or 9, mum did go against Dad's wishes and enrolled in a pottery course at Tafe and became quite a good potter, but she was never allowed to throw herself (pun not intended) into it completely.

After mum and dad seperated, mum started doing nightschool to get her highschool diploma (she was around 33 years old)... Then she became a Salvation army officer, which offered two years theological education. When she was 42, she wanted to pursue a counselling diploma and the Army pretty much said no (their stance on officers studying externally has since changed, but back then moonlighting was not permitted)... So, she left (good for her!). She completed the diploma, then decided to do a bachelor of Theology, it took her several years to complete that (2003, I think), and then she decided to do a Masters of Ministry. After just one year of that course, she transfer to a Masters of Writing (the course I'm doing now), and has been working on that since. About 2-3 years ago, she had starting working for the Uni as a tutor and marker, then she became an assistant lecturer, and then part time lecturer and external student co-ordinator, and now FINALLY after all these years, she's a full-time lecturer!!!

I'm so proud of my mum, she proves that not finishing highschool just doesn't mean anything!!! It's never too late to see your dreams come into fruition, you just have to keep plugging away at it!!!

This promotion comes with a lovely pay increase (I think about double what she's getting now!!!), which means they will not have to struggle so much to pay off their house, whoo hoo!!! Yay mum!!!

Comments

casso said…
How great to hear, your mum must be SO happy! Congratulations!
11:17 pm
Rebecca said…
Oh your Mum is a true inspiration!! What a fantastic woman, good on her!! Big congratulations from me!
11:17 pm
clelkaje said…
Congratulations!!! She is proof that there are many paths to get where you want in life, good for her - what tenacity! Clel xx
8:30 am
Rae said…
Fantastic!!
9:36 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12 Things Happy People Do Differently - a self-reflection...

A few days ago a Facebook friend posted the above poster on her wall. I believe she got these points from this blog which she enjoys reading, and the bloggers on the Marc and Angel Hack Life blog derived their discussion of these points from this book, available on Amazon - you're welcome! I have to admit, I haven't read the blog or the book I've just mentioned but wanted my readers to have access to the sources of the poster for their own reflective purposes.
The New Year will be upon us in but a few days and I thought this a great opportunity to do a little personal assessment on how I'm playing the happy game. I'm often not very happy at all - I don't need to be happy all the time, let me just say that up front - I personally believe that life is a balancing act and those who seek euphoria often will also often feel desolation because in all things there must be balance. The great riches of the few on this planet come at the personal cost of the many as is …
1 comment
Read more

The symbolism of elephants...

Just recently I've been seeing and noticing elephants everywhere!

A few weeks ago I saw the Samsung Elephant Ad, and watching that led me to watching a video with an elephant painting (seriously, you have to watch it to believe it!).

Then last night the boys told me they were having a free dress day at school to raise money for 'Mali the Elephant' - who turned out to be a paper maché statue which the children will paint and then show around the council before it comes back to the school to stand outside the performing arts room.

Then this morning I followed a link from Twitter to Toushka Lee's blog and read this post about an elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka.

This morning the Grumpy Old Man did another driving test and unfortunately didn't pass. We've booked his next test and are looking forward to that now. About ten minutes before he walked in the door I saw this poster on Facebook...


At the time, I didn't know if the Grumpy Old Man had been successful or …
Post a Comment
Read more

Do you have low self-esteem?

I don't.

I used to think I did, but having met several people who really do have low self-esteem, I've now come to realise I actually have low confidence (and note I don't say low self-confidence, but more on that later), and that is a different breed of animal all together.

I was having a chat with a friend the other day about people who constantly put themselves down. If you are a participant in social media you might be aware of this kind of person. Everyone is smarter than them, prettier than them, more motivated, better organised, or has greater talent than them. It goes further, some of these people are not at all opposed to running themselves down to others with comments like, 'I'm so fat' (and not in a proud, fat acceptance way, but in a negative, self-loathing kind of way), or 'I'm stupid' or 'I'm ugly'.

Some people are just fishing for compliments, of course, but the ones who persist; the ones who simply cannot take a complimen…
1 comment
Read more