I met my best friend Tinkerbell, about eight years ago. We met in a shearing shed at her family’s property in Queensland, Australia. My friend was a shearer and he took me to their shearing shed the day he went to shear their sheep. I was new to the area and he thought it would be nice for me to meet a lady in the area.
That one day changed my life forever. Who would have thought that a ‘rough around the edges’ shearer could have seen that she and I would hit it off.
He had described her to me on the way to the shed. She was kind and gentle and a really nice lady. Now that was high praise coming from my mate the shearer! So I waited with a quiet hope that this lady might be someone I could ring now and again. After all we both lived remotely.
From the moment I saw her, I was in love. Here was this tall, smiling woman saying hello and reaching out her arms to hug me. Right behind her was the love of her life, her husband, and he was waiting his turn to do the same.
That day I found my people.
We spent the day chatting and laughing as the sheep were getting shorn. They taught me how to skirt a fleece, showed me how how the wool was classed and before I knew it I had my hands in the thick of it! I was in the wool and the sheep poo and it was one of the best times of my life.
Now Tinkerbell I fell in love with her the moment she wrapped her arms around me to say hello. I knew that I was in the arms of love. Eight years on as I sit recounting this story, I can feel her gentle hands on my shoulders and I can hear her say ‘Hi honey…’ and I know I am loved.
Tinkerbell’s husband is the first man I had met in my life that I have ever truly respected. He is kind, he has a killer mind, he is funny, he is protective of Tinkerbell and he is to me the very essence of what a real man should be. He told me that same day that we were shearing, when he hardly even knew me, that he loved his life and he spent everyday with his best friend and loved her more than life itself. Now that’s a man!
Tinkerbell is the sister that I had only dreamed about. We have different senses of humour, but we have a similar outlook on the world and when Tinkerbell loves you, you know it each and every single day. Her love is warmer than the sun, and I wish I could put into better words just what she means to me.
Tinkerbell is the most honest person I know. She listens…but being the darling she is, its the things I don’t say that she hears the most. She knows me, she can see the pain in my eyes and she can see what’s going on behind the fake smile, whereas everyone else only sees the ‘happy’ smile.
She sometimes tells me things I don’t want to hear, but she has shown me that all her words come from a place of love, so at times when I don’t think she is right, I stop, I think about it from her point of view and nine times out of ten, she is right. Yeah ok, ten out of ten, but she never tells me, I told you so!
Tinkerbell shares my weaknesses with me, but always manages to point out my strengths. She can always find me when the rest of the world doesn’t even know I am lost. She has a never-ending love for her family and I am honoured to say that each and everyday she makes me know that I am one of them!
We spent a wonderful two weeks together in January 2016 as we launched my website. She was kind and brave and stood up with me my efforts to try to stop violence and abuse of women and children. She edits my stories which must be so hard for her as she loves me so much. Tinkerbell is the bravest woman I know.
I love her so much and if the things that have happened to me in my past had happened to her…I don’t think that I could stand it!
When I last saw Tinkerbell about three weeks ago, she had bandaids on her poor elbows. Now this is hysterical! I have a good layer of fat on me but Tinkerbell doesn’t. She wore out the skin on her elbows while she, her husband and I, sat drinking coffee, laughing and talking and putting the world to rights. How funny is that? We wore out her elbows! 😀
The three of us always laugh and say we are going to grow old together and we will. When we all go senile, it’ll be like seeing them for the very first time and I’ll get to fall in love with them all over again! 😉
Be kind to yourself,
Love Big Fat Dee
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