How do we do this?

How do we do this? In the form of an informal letter, or what? Will Don edit it? Do I send you all greetings? Well, folks, best to you all, and here's what I've done over my summer vacation......

Did see a few of you at the 1985 reunion, when I was enormously pregnant. Might as well start there....that baby is now my gorgeous son, Paul Terrell, who is in his second year of study at Melbourne University, concentrating in Creative Arts, primarily theatre. Paul can't decide whether he wants to be an actor, writer, director or all three, but the kid really is very talented (has already produced two successful plays of his own) and he might actually make it in that world. I am so delighted for him that he has something he loves and that it is something that I find so worthwhile.

My husband Edward and I have now been married nearly 22 years. We returned to Australia about a year after Paul was born. At present we live in Melbourne (Toorak is part of Melbourne), in a flat, as we became sick to death of spending our weekends taking care of a house. Melbourne is a wonderful city, pleasant and accessible, with loads of culture, cafes and restaurants, and delightful places to hang out. Now that we are child-free, we have been taking advantage of it in a big way, and it's great. We have no plans to return to the States, although there are of course people we miss - but all of our parents are gone, and we find life here generally quite satisfactory. There are other reasons too, but perhaps it is better to avoid politics.

I am still working at the trade I fell into - as a result of a very mixed academic background (arts degree, and teaching certificate, and then an MBA), I have spent most of the last 20 years working at the publishing unit of a university here, as first an editor and then an 'instructional designer' on distance education training materials, primarily for those in the finance services industry - financial planners, insurance types, accountants and so on. I now work at the Australian and New Zealand Institute for Insurance and Finance, and am at present the Acting Assessment Manager - sounds exciting, doesn't it?! But it is a good job, and I should keep going for another year or two. Edward is semi-retired, although he is still doing some university teaching (his field is art history).

Other activities? - have had a few short articles published here and there but never seem to have had the time to do any serious writing. I might someday, especially when I stop working. Or not? We go for bike rides along the Yarra River most weekends, but that doesn't mean I wear one of those Lycra things and rampage along at 60 mph - these are gentle potters along the city bike trails, in a continuing effort to keep all the moving parts moving. Both of us have been very lucky, health-wise, thank goodness. I play the piano every now and then, enjoy the countryside, go to a lot of plays and movies, and still read voraciously (but not The DaVinci Code). I really really love snorkeling, and our vacations tend to be places that the snorkeling is good if I can convince my family, like Fiji or Cairns (the Great Barrier Reef), and I hope Vanuatu will be next. Would love to take more trips to Europe, but it is a bit farther from here than from there. I've been doing some volunteer work at a nursing home and for Amnesty International, and will probably do more along this line.

Like the rest of you, I imagine, I can't believe I am nearly 60. Time seems to compress itself - we were born just after WWII, and to me that seems very recent, yet young people barely know when it was. As I said before, my husband and I have been very healthy, and I hope for quite a few good, happy years yet, although I have no desire at all to live to be 100! We have no real plans for our 'retirement' - for the moment, we are both content doing what we are doing, and we'll see how things go. I find the present state of the world conducive to great despair, and while I am somewhat active politically, it all seems quite hopeless and I feel continually guilty for not doing more. However, I continue to hope that I live to see better days, and hope for better days for my son and other young people. I assume that any sane person would hope for the same. Best wishes to you all, and may we appreciate the incredible privilege that we have all enjoyed and turn it to good use.

PS Sue Parilla - if you still have my original record of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I'd love to have it back?!

Christine Graunas BA, MBA
Instructional Designer - Assessment
Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance
Asia Insurance Industry Educational Service Provider of the Year 2002, 2003 & 2004
-- Level 17, 31 Queen Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia
Tel: (61 3) 9613 7237