Mum’s 70th birthday speech
I’d like to officially welcome you to my mum, Pam Lawson’s 70th birthday party: She’s not too keen on me mentioning her age, but there you go!
Having made the decision to have a party, one of the first decisions we had to make was where?
Mum was insistent that any celebration be held in East Gippsland: Having lived more than 30 years of her life in this area, mum feels most at home in this region. She has so many fond memories here and has made so many good friends: She wanted it to be here, and here we are.
Cameron and I appreciate that it’s not the most convenient place to get to and we’d like to especially thank everyone who’s had to travel from Melbourne and other parts of Victoria to be here today: We hope you enjoy your time in Metung.
Mum is especially happy that all of her sisters and her brother and their respective partners are here today; as Cameron and I are: It’s good to see you.
Mum is also thrilled that her cousin Lawrie and his wife Cheryl are here today.
We’d also like to thank Tony and the team at the Metung Yacht Club for putting on such a lovely lunch for our mum and her family and friends on this special occasion:
The last time I spoke about my mum in public was her 60th birthday in Nungurner, 10 years ago. In the lead up to that event, I had reiterated to mum that if she wanted me to say anything, she needed to tell me in advance. She explained she didn’t want any speeches, but halfway through the party, I was convinced to say a few unprepared words: Great.
I didn’t say much, but I remember saying something about the fact that despite turning 60, she had some of the best years of her life ahead of her, or something like that.
To be honest, mum was very nervous at that time about moving to Melbourne on her own: But when I look at the last 10 years, I’m so proud of the new life she has forged for herself.
She sold her home in Nungurner, sold her service station in Cann River, bought herself a new home in Melbourne, renovated it, taught herself to invest, made new friends and is the most wonderful grandmother or “nanny Pam” to her grandchildren Eliza and Rory.
But most importantly, I understand she is now a demon Bridge player, feared by opponents both domestic and international.
As we all know too well, life has it successes … and its failures, and Pam certainly hasn’t been immune to those over the course of her 70 years.
I remember being Pam’s son the scout back in the mid-to-late 80s: I would earn rare badges for my achievements and it was customary to collect badges and have your mum sew them on your uniform and sleeping bag.
Mum had a decent crack at sewing these badges onto my uniform and sleeping bag, but after a few challenges, a family decision was made to outsource this task to upholsterers in Macleod St. Today we’d call this outsourcing, but back then, well its best we move on…
Continuing our theme, the Scouts also used to hold a jam-pot jamboree every year to raise money for causes I can’t remember now. Mum was an enthusiastic participant and set to work cooking as many conserves as she could, right up until the moment the kitchen blind at Riverine St caught fire in the process: The fire was quickly doused and our family’s participation in the jamboree instantaneously shifted from making conserves to buying them!
With that said, my mum has been and continues to be an inspiration in my life and her constant support and belief in me has probably been more than I’ve deserved at times.
I remember saying at my wedding that as a child you don’t realise your parents are people too. With the arrival of two young kids since then, I feel like my appreciation of, and empathy with, mum and her life has deepened even further.
It would not have been easy for mum to leave her life and family in Melbourne to follow my father to Bairnsdale in early 1974, but she did, and while she missed her family terribly, she is all the happier for her time in Bairnsdale.
Upon moving back to Melbourne in 2008, mum joined a new club, The Ionians. I don’t know if many of you here today are aware of the Ionians? I certainly wasn’t.
From their website: “The Ionians is the friendship club for women on the move!”
It’s a club for women who are, or have been newly arrived in an area and appreciate the support of other women.
Mum speaks of women who have arrived in Melbourne from the UK and Canada. Senior executives or wives of senior executives. Women making their way in an unfamiliar environment: Women who’ve never been to Melbourne before.
I like to tease mum on occasion that they probably weren’t thinking they’d be catering for women who’d grown up in Melbourne, moved to East Gippsland in their 20s and moved back to Melbourne sometime later.
I like to joke with mum about whether she knows what a tram is or whether she knows where the Jam Factory is!
She takes it all in good humour.
The truth is mum continues to embrace life and has been a bit of an explorer in recent years.
Prior to 2015, mum, Cam and I hadn’t been overseas together since a family holiday to Fiji in 1987.
That’s changed recently and in the past 2 years, we’ve spent a week together in New York with mum and me flying in from Melbourne and Cameron meeting us from his base at that time of London.
Last year, mum and I travelled to London to be there for Cameron’s wedding to his partner, Blenard. The wedding was such a joyous occasion and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in London as well as side trips to Paris and Rome.
These recent travels have been some of the happiest times I’ve ever spent with my mum.
I’d like to finish with a story of which mum reminds me often:
The year is 1994, I’m 18, just finished school and working as a ski instructor at Mt Hotham.
Following my first private lesson, mum asked me who I’d been instructing:
Mum responded along the lines of: “Do you mean a woman my age?”
“No mum, she was in her 30s!”
Mum, thank you for being a terrific mother to Cam and I; and for being a wonderful Nanny Pam to Eliza and Rory.
I’m so pleased you’re surrounded by your family and best friends on this wonderful occasion.
We love you to bits and wish you the very best of birthdays:
Happy 70th birthday mum: May the next 10 years be as action-packed as the last!
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