Hi Everyone

One day to go to see my first gynaecologist on Wednesday 13th at 16:00 hours, "I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it".[1]  Other than my surgeon, who checked me after my surgery and my boyfriends, nobody has seen downstairs.  I have a couple of times, I believe just after surgery and that was it.  I was not obsessed with what it looked like as appearances differ from one female to another.  I will give you a run down on a sanitized version of the visit, I promise you.

Anyway, I went bush for a couple of days to my property with my brother, who I will call Michael from now on and his wife, who I will call Amanda from now on.  Mainly to have a rest if you call mowing the property to make sure there is a fire break, a break or a kit kat break.  A nice chocolate bar, ok enough with the lame jokes.

I did try to take a picture of the highway to indicate the long stretches that occur, but they were not that focused, so I will not bother uploading them.  When I go up next time, which will be the Easter holidays, I will be in my car and I will stop and take a couple of shots, these highways are not the longest that one can come across in Australia.

We arrived and the first thing of the bat was switch on water pumps and electric circuits for the portable fridge, freezer esky.  Then it was a nice cup of hot tea.

Michael then got the two ride on mowers ready for us girls.  I had never in my life ridden a ride on mower and I was given a quick lesson on how to drive one.  Which was fairly easy to do, while I was cutting the grass my brother kept giving me pointers.  I cut the bottom section of the property, Amanda did the top halve.  Halfway through cutting. We stopped for a rest and you guessed it another cup of tea.  It was then back to the grind of finishing the mowing.

Since I was doing the steeper slope.  The area beyond the fire pit.  I thought I was going to be thrown off the mower, but that did not happened as they say you learn on the job.  I ended up with abrasions on the left leg from some handle and I got a bruise from a stone that flew out from the blades and hit my right leg, this was when I was sort of tipping over and my right leg was raised up.  It's healing.  Along with being battered and bruised. I was wearing white long trouser pants.  Big mistake, the dust being kicked up from the mower, settled on them.

When I went to wash them later.  I forgot to put the washing powder in, so I had to do the washing all over again.

With the job finished, it was another cup of tea, then a shower to get rid of the dirt and grime.  Which was followed by an afternoon nap.  Amanda layed down and read or watch her ipad.  Michael pottered around the property collecting firewood for cooking the tea (dinner) in the fire pit that night.

After waking up it was time for preparing the meal a basic stew with sausages, pork, potatoes and swede and some spices, and stock.  While me and Amanda prepared for the evening meal, this was done on the park bench.  I told her my history on what I had I done.  It's usually the girls that are more interested in what I did than the men, maybe it's because it's women's business.  I don't know, what do you think?  Dinner cooked, we ate it and was a really nice dinner, after a hard days work.  Dishes were washed and then we spent time on our own, before going to bed to sleep.

In the following photo you will see in foreground the fire pit which was used to cook our tea is on the left.  The grass closest to the pit and park bench, which is on the right underneath the overhead cover, which is were we ate our tea and the grass that was mowed.
The next photo is a building with an outside toilet on the left and sleeping quarters, to the right, the one with the brown water tanks.  You can see that the grass has been cut.  To the right you can see the ride on mowers there are two of them,  this also a barbeque area for cooking breakfast , lunch and tea.  We did cook breakfast on this barbeque, in the morning which consisted of toast and bacon.
The final photo shows another sleeping quarters in the background, the barbeque are on the left and the fire pit in foreground.  One last thing the property size is 16ha (40 acres).
I should have planned taking better photos to show what was going on, next time I will do a better job.  So after breakfast we packed up and returned home for a pretty easy weekend of doing nothing for a change.

I'm going to do some house chores for the rest of the day and get ready for my trip tomorrow which will take up to 3 hours.  Things one must do, oh well that's life.

Love and Hugs for Everyone Sarah B
[1] Pointer Sisters

I know what the roads are like from watching things like Outback Gold Miners and the Opal Hunters shows as well as the Road Trains. Vast is the word! Looks like a nice camp spot, recon wild fires are the biggest worry.

Great pics, Sarah. Thanks for sharing.
If I had a property like that, I would live there full-time. 

Sarah - that VIEW in the first picture!!!! That's incredible. I can only imagine how hard it is to leave every time you get settled in there for a few days.

Love,
Allie

Hi Everyone

Someday, one day
Time's not so far away
We can share the dreams we've had
Oh, someday, ooh-ooh-ooh!

Hey, there, look in the mirror
Tell me, what do you see before you?
I see someone to be proud of
I see someone that I love

..... [1]

I was going to start this update to my blog with, "one day someday" and an instant flash of memory reminded me of one of my all time favourite songs, you guessed it, "Someday, one day",  then I could not help myself and started to write down the first couple of versus of the song.

The Seekers have always been a favourite of mine since I was a little girl.  Why?  Reason being, I have always liked guitar and folk music, today I still do and I like acoustic cover versions of various songs as well.

As you can see the words have a deep and meaningful relationship for us, well in fact for everyone

As I have mentioned previously, I said I was going to update you on my first visit to a gynaecologist in my life.  So the question remains, why would I seek a gynaecologist at this stage in my life after an absence of 33 years?

Well curiosity got the better of me.  In terms of how it looked, I have not seen it in 33 years, that's right I have not seen it since surgery.  It goes along with what I know, all vaginas are different from one women to the next.  So knowing that, I have never obsessed about what it looks like.  Anyway I'm getting ahead of myself.

Since the trip was over 250km (151mi) and the appointment was for 16:00 hours so 3 hours allowed for travelling that distance at a speed of 100km/h (60mph).  Knowing that I was hitting the big smoke, Brisbane, lets add another 1 hour of congestion.   So 4 hours allowed for travelling, starting at 12:00 hours.  I was being a little pedantic about these calculations, why, because I did not want to miss my appointment with the gynaecologist.

So on the day Wednesday 13th I took my time getting ready and low and behold I was way ahead of schedule, in other words I was waiting around.  So I spent sometime on Susan's.  In the end, I said bugger it lets go a little earlier and I can travel a little less than 100km/h.  It's just as well I went earlier.

I had not gone more than 40km out of town on the major highway, when I had to stop because a lot of cars where queued up in front of me.  Thinking it was a road work construction and hoping we would soon be able to move on.  However, that was not the case, so 40 minutes later we were allowed to move on.

I guessed it was an accident (saw an ambulance go by), which had occurred ahead and when I drove pass, a car was seen, that had flipped on to it's roof.  No injured person was seen.  So what happened I will not know unless they mention it in the news.

Just as well I left earlier than planned.  Since I was able to arrive just before the scheduled time, fill in the obligatory form and signed my life away.  I was able to freshen up before the appointment.  When I sat down, I was called in by Dr Amy (the gynaecologist).  We introduce ourselves of course as one does when meeting new people for the first time.

I asked if my current doctor Dr Alice had rung and she said yes and she was a bit cryptic in what she said to me.  It's even fuzzy to me, what went on with that conversation, but never mind, it does not matter.  So for the second time in a couple of months.  I gave her my surgery letter, in which case she started to read it.  She immediately commented on the surgeon, Dr Peter Haertsch, so she knew of his reputation and then I handed her my referral letter.

I suppose I gave her my surgery letter as a sign of respect, I knew before hand that she was interested in my 'medial condition' and I wanted to be up front with her on my condition, so there were no barriers between us.  I also mentioned, that I was extremely private in regards to my 'medical condition', so that any solution to my health, my privacy would be kept in mind.   I also casually mentioned that no one has seen down below their except for boyfriends in 33 years, she laughed at that.

Which made me fill at ease even further.  I told her I knew that I had an outer labia and a clitoris, I also told her, I think that I had a minor labia and was told at the time when I asked about it, but I was not sure, I also mentioned a couple of other things, that were not important like scaring.  Dr Amy, told me, so basically, she said, "you want a health check on your vagina", I replied yes.

In addition I told her I was having weeing problems, which was mentioned on the referral letter that I handed to her.  All of this was interspaced with stories and what I had done.

Examination time!  I of course had to undress that meant taking of my trousers mid length or Culottes or Chinos and my underwear and then climb on to the exam table.  Dr Amy examined me and told me the following.  I have a healthy vagina, also I have a major and minor labia oh and a clitoris. Well I know that I have one of those!

Was I ecstatic, oh yes, I was over the moon, because she confirmed that I had a minor labia and my surgeon had done a brilliant job 33 years ago (I kept my joy to myself),  I did say in regards to the minor labia, that's good to hear.  However, the good news was tempered with some bad news and that I had at least BPH.  Examination was done within may 5 to 10 minutes.

One thing that was funny, Dr Alice said she was going to go and get a magnifying glass and when she came back in this instrument was nearly as big as herself.  I don't know what the instrument was called but it was funny and said, that's a magnifying glass?  She said, "yes".

She said to me that she was going to contact a urologist and bottom surgery specialist and would ring me in regards to that conversation and what is going to happen in the future.  As I was travelling home, I considered the ramifications of my problem and my immediate answer was, with no dithering in my thought processes, that I would have the offending organ removed.

Missing a turn on my way back home in the outback was fun as instant update on my satellite navigation systems took me around the back roads of the bush.  I arrived safely home as you can see as I'm typing this on my computer.  It was a wonderful day.

Dr Amy rang me on Friday and basically said further tests will be needed in regards to my problem with weeing.  I mentioned surgery and she said medicine would be the most likely outcome.  I did do a little bit more research on it and I'm still inclined to go the surgery result.  Having a reminder, that organ is still present in my body is enough to make me feel nauseous.  Even though removing the organ is not easy to do.  I will see what happens and keep you informed as it's important for other members to know what happens in my case.

Well it has been a long day and it's pass midnight here in Australia and it's Saturday, other than my brother helping move some boxes on Friday nothing exciting happened.

Take care and have a nice day and weekend, see you all again soon.

Hugs
Sarah B
[1]  Someday, One Day
Offical Greeter

Hi Allie

Thank you for your kind reply:

Quote from: imallie on March 13, 2024, 11:47:22 AMSarah - that VIEW in the first picture!!!! That's incredible. I can only imagine how hard it is to leave every time you get settled in there for a few days.

Love,
Allie

Yes, a wonderful view and when a porch is applied to the buiding in the middle of the last picture and that big tree to the left is removed it will be a picturesque view.

Yes, it would be nice to stay there all the time and more work needs to be done to make it practicable to live there full time.  It will come eventually.

See you around and I hope you have a nice weekend and I have provided you with a little light reading above.

Love and Hugs
Sarah B
@imallie

I had my GP look as I had an infection after having treatment by my surgeon on a patch, I asked her how it looked and she said she would not had know it was not natural. Prostrate is a risk we all have if that is what you mean?   

Quote from: Sarah B on March 15, 2024, 10:54:36 AMHi Allie

Thank you for your kind reply:

Yes, a wonderful view and when a porch is applied to the buiding in the middle of the last picture and that big tree to the left is removed it will be a picturesque view.

Yes, it would be nice to stay there all the time and more work needs to be done to make it practicable to live there full time.  It will come eventually.

See you around and I hope you have a nice weekend and I have provided you with a little light reading above.

Love and Hugs
Sarah B
@imallie

Oh that sounds lovely! So how often are you there during the year? From your description I infer that it's a bit of a journey, so I'm guessing you go less frequently but for longer stretches?

Hi Allie

I hope you enjoyed my posts!

Quote from: imallie on March 15, 2024, 11:58:27 AMOh that sounds lovely! So how often are you there during the year? From your description I infer that it's a bit of a journey, so I'm guessing you go less frequently but for longer stretches?

I will know in about a year, but I have been up there several times this year as I have just recently acquired it.  The distance is only about 160km (100mi), actually a bit less, but close enough.  The next time I go up there, several members of my family will also be there (clan gathering) and it will be for the Easter Break and that will be nearly for a whole week, it will be like a camping holiday with some work to do around the property.

Stay tuned for more adventures of Sarah off Grid!

Love and Hugs
Sarah B

Sarah, The camp looks beautiful. I can't imagine how hard it must be to leave there. Don't be so quick to have the prostate removed. My neighbor did that and now must wear a diaper all the time as well as other issues.
  Funny when talking with men they talk about thier accomplishments, what they have bought and done, what thier sports team is doing. Most women talk, more about family and what's going on in thier lives on a more personal level. Ill take the women talk anyday. 
Hugs Gina

Quote from: Sarah B on January 31, 2024, 06:16:43 AMI have lived my life as me.  From the beginning as a child that remembers even at kindergarten or even preschool.  I can remember vividly standing in a room with other children and presumably some teachers or carers.  I was looking at a pile of clothes on the floor in the middle of the room.  I don't know, if my memories can recall my age at the time.  I don't think so, however, going back that far and trying to think how old I was at the time would give an indication of when all this started.  Likely around the ages of 4 to 6 years old.

Just saw this...

I some ways my experiences as a child were similar and in some ways very different from yours.

About that same age I did crossdress...

My mother who was a WWII DP (displaced person i.e., refuge - BTW after the war my mother told me she had the choice of emigrating to either the US or Australia - and chose the US) .. Anyway my mother bought used cloths and would snd the back to the old country to relatives).. and among them were little girl clothes... which I would wear when I thought no one was around... I just barely remembered it

But many years later as an adult I found out my mother knew about it...


I did Xdress on and off later on until about the 7th or 8th grade in secret and wanted to be a girl.

But with all of that, I did not have (and still don't have) overly feminine behavioral traits , and while I am not and never been macho, I do have what many would consider to be masculine behavioral traits.

- Karen

Hi Everyone

I'm sitting at my computer, looking at the screen, killing time as this morning around 09:30 I will travelling to the next town to have an ultra sound on my bladder, which will provide information to my new GP and Dr Amy my gynaecologist in regards to my problem with going to wee.  I will come back to this trip in a later post.

A fair amount of time has passed since I last posted, well that's wrong its was only 5 days ago, but it still seems such along time when I made a reply to Allie, yet I have a number of replies to be made to others and that needs to be done.

Nothing much has happened in the last 5 days, everything is still up in the air, in what I have been doing, its been strange because the last couple of days have been quite well it seems that way and that is strange.  However, when I sit back and start thinking  bout what happened in the last couple of days it all comes back like a flood.  So how do I tell you what happened?  One starts at the beginning of the last post or near enough of course.

Saint Patricks day has come and gone, I was vaguely aware of it and of course today is the 20th of March, which is the March equinox, for those who are interested in astronomy.  I of course have always been interested, read love, in astronomy and as a matter of interest a good portion of my background wallpapers are of the Messier catalogue and other pictures.

Especially the image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the M16, Eagle Nebula and the 3 pillars of creation.  Which appeared on the Times magazine cover in the 1990's.  Later on when I get further along in 'Sarah's Story', I will come back to this topic.

I received two medical forms for tests that needed to be carried out in regards to my weeing problem.  When I spoke to Dr Amy my gynaecologist and I made her aware of my privacy and she said I will give you the paper work for the PSA test and you decide if you want to take the test and if I do decide then I can take it to one of the pathology labs, we have 3 different companies that we can choose from.

She said if they question it, I was to tell them, the doctor ordered it.  In addition to the PSA test, there was an ultra sound scan for my bladder and kidneys, which I learnt today.  I also had an excuse if any discussion came up in regards to the test being performed.

In regards to the PSA which happened on Monday.  I must emphasise that I thought about what I was going to do for at least a week so that I could minimise the consequences of myself from being outed.  So I choose one of the companies that was in another town.  This allowed me to avoid this particular company location in the future.

I took it in and the technician looked at it for the first time, the technician read the paper work she seemed very puzzled.  Possible (more than likely) why was a PSA test written down for a female!!! She seemed puzzled and took a step backwards and then came forwards again.

I said is there anything wrong, she did not reply and then she turned around and more than likely went to consult a colleague.  She returned and we then proceeded to a cubicle where the blood sample was going to be taken from.  I always enjoy watching the procedure, yes I know I'm sick in the head.

It was a very pleasant time.  There was no questions about the PSA test (withdrawal of blood), with me, general chit chat. Confirmation of name and date of birth.  Then it was out the door.  So after 35 years I may have been sprung maybe.  I took steps to keep my privacy as private as much as possible.  I will tell people, if and only if it's absolutely necessary, just like my current doctors Dr Amy and Dr Alice.  In other words I know when to reveal my 'medical condition' to others when I feel comfortable in doing so.

The ultra scan of my bladder and kidneys, which took place Wednesday went something like this  Fasting for 12 hours before the test.  Empty the bladder about 2 hours before and drink 2 litres of water.  So there were no problems in doing the preparation for the scan.  Although the technician asked me to spell my first name and last name which is very unusual, the whole procedure went very well.  Will know the result hopefully in 7 days in time and both doctors will have the information from both tests hopefully.

I know you want to know what's happening with my story about Sarah's Race to SRS.  I'm hopeful to work on it this afternoon.  So please don't worry about it.  I do have thoughts on what to do after that part of the story is finished, meaning plenty to come.  So you know as much as I do at this present day and age and I will let you go on your merry way

Take care and have a nice day and weekend, that is sure to come, see you all again soon.

Hugs and more Hugs
Sarah B

Hi Karen

Thank you for your comment, its good to hear other stories that are similar to ourselves.

Quote from: Karen_A on March 16, 2024, 09:19:08 AMJust saw this...

I some ways my experiences as a child were similar and in some ways very different from yours.

Yes, as everyone has said at some time, our paths are different and that is, mainly the opportunities that exist at the time.

Quote from: Karen_A on March 16, 2024, 09:19:08 AMAbout that same age I did crossdress...

I was able to put some of  my mums clothes on. But that was an unmitigated disaster.  They were too big!  There was no other chances for me, because I knew that if there were any girl clothes around, that I could have worn, I believe, I would have done so without hesitation.

Quote from: Karen_A on March 16, 2024, 09:19:08 AMMy mother who was a WWII DP (displaced person i.e., refuge - BTW after the war my mother told me she had the choice of emigrating to either the US or Australia - and chose the US) .. Anyway my mother bought used cloths and would snd the back to the old country to relatives).. and among them were little girl clothes... which I would wear when I thought no one was around... I just barely remembered it

But many years later as an adult I found out my mother knew about it...

When we sit back and remember these past memories, other memories tend to pop up.  This is exactly what is occurring when I write my story.  So you were sprung badly and at least you were not stopped from doing something that comes naturally and says something about your mum.

Quote from: Karen_A on March 16, 2024, 09:19:08 AMI did Xdress on and off later on until about the 7th or 8th grade in secret and wanted to be a girl.

You were lucky in that sense as, all I could do was, think about; "I wanted to wear girls uniform", while I was still in primary and high school.  Limiting in a sense, I know.  The funny thing is, I never questioned why I wanted to wear the dresses in those instances.

Quote from: Karen_A on March 16, 2024, 09:19:08 AMBut with all of that, I did not have (and still don't have) overly feminine behavioral traits , and while I am not and never been macho, I do have what many would consider to be masculine behavioral traits.

- Karen

I'm also of a similar disposition, that is I'm not a girly girl.  I always liked nice female clothes, not tutu's, nor overtly frilly ones either or sequin clothes ones.  I'm more modest, or tend to be a little prude and that is the way I go.

When I changed my life around at the start.  I already had in my mind how I was going to dress, smart dress for going to functions or barbeques and power dress suits when I worked and nice evening wear not too revealing when I went out to formal functions.  Like the black dress that Kate Winslet wears, when she attends a function in the movie 'Holiday'.  I had a dress just like that and it was one of my favourites.

I did read about being 'macho' to cover one's femininity and I certainly did some of those activities to cover that side of my personality, but the activities were not overtly macho.  These activities I'm sure were around for females when I did them, for example I was evolved in scuba diving and there were young females and older women who participated in that particular activity.

I don't have any male or macho traits, except I'm on the stem side of activities and these days it is no big deal.  In the past it was an area where women would tend not to be seen in.

I consider one of the most important traits, when I changed my life around was; "just be yourself" and that was how I presented myself to others around me, very early on.

All the best.

Hugs
Sarah B

Hi Gina

Thank you for your comment and you are right, it is camp, like when we were kids we went away and spent a couple of days camping.  Whereas this camp you do not have to pay for anything except rates.  Councils still want their penny's worth.

Quote from: Gina P on March 16, 2024, 08:09:44 AMSarah, The camp looks beautiful. I can't imagine how hard it must be to leave there. Don't be so quick to have the prostate removed. My neighbor did that and now must wear a diaper all the time as well as other issues.

Yes it is nice and hopefully working on the property will improve it immensely.  Trust me it's easy to leave the land, you just get in your car and drive away.  No, seriously it would be nice to stay, but at the moment, it has just the basics.  I still would like a few more creature comforts, but that will take time as I once mentioned in one of my posts, small, small steps and eventually you will be able to live there for good.  My other brother lives on the adjacent block and has taken several years to get to the stage of being self sufficient, that means animals as well, I don't know if I will go down that path.

I know there are complications with any surgery, the only serious complication is as you say is incontinence.  The other two complications were taken care of years ago  .  Tests are underway and what ever the results are, I will still more than likely want that part removed from my body.  I will take my time in deciding on what way I will go.

Quote from: Gina P on March 16, 2024, 08:09:44 AMFunny when talking with men they talk about thier accomplishments, what they have bought and done, what thier sports team is doing. Most women talk, more about family and what's going on in thier lives on a more personal level. Ill take the women talk anyday.
Hugs Gina

I'm proud of all my accomplishments that I have achieved in my life.  The point that needs to be made in this regard is, I never brag about what I have done or achieved in my life.  I not into sports, that is 'football' basketball or even cricket.  There is only one sport that I will go out of my way to make time and that is swimming competitions that are presented on television.

Talking, me?  Funny thing is my brother apparently was speaking before I did.  We are one year apart in age.  Well these days I certainly made up for it.  Which, in a sense makes sense, because I will sit back and listen to what is going on and say very little, listen to the gossip, but do not pass it on.  This ties in with my nature and that is, I was a very quite and reserved person before and after I changed my life around.

However, as time passed after surgery I changed and now I'm more talkative and I enjoy those intimate conversations with other women, which I was unable to do in the past.  So yes, I will take women talk any day of the year and what I have achieved in my life, will speak for itself.

Hugs
Sarah B

@Sarah B 
Dear Sarah: 
I enjoyed reading your update here on your Blog thread.

Continue to enjoy working on your property....
      .......and continue looking after your health.

Hugs, Danielle

Hi Everyone

I share with you a haiku. By me.




Love and Hugs
Sarah B

@Sarah B
Dear Sarah:
Beautifully written.... I got misty eyed reading it.
HUGS, Danielle

Quote from: Sarah B on March 22, 2024, 03:21:09 PMHi Everyone

I share with you a haiku. By me.

You stand before me longing.
Love behind your misty eyes, shines brightly.
You stole my heart forever.

Love and Hugs
Sarah B

Wow!  I think that may be the first haiku I have read that seems both poetic and unforced.  Nice!

Hi Everybody

This interlude, is a preamble to Sarah's Passion, which resulted from a reply instigated by O&C in Allie's blog.  When I started to answer as usual, I start to create a wall of text in relation to the post that was posted.  So I decided such a wall of text in regards to Sarah's Passion deserved a post of it's own and in the next post following this post, I will go into more detail about that passion.

I will do very minor edits to ensure clarity only and does not affect the story of Sarah's Passion as I reread it.

So sit back, relax and enjoy.

Best Wishes, Love and Hugs for Everyone
Sarah B

Sarah's Passion

For as long as I can remember, I have loved the water.  The earliest memory took place a long time ago, when I was a young girl.  I remember the occasion very vividly as if it was yesterday.  I was with mum of course and two of my aunts.  I was around the age of 8, the reason being, we were moving to our first home, instead of living with my grandmother, who had a house in
Surbiton, Surrey England.

The year was around 1967, so long ago.  In our travels from Surbtion to Hordle in Hampshire we stopped at a swimming place in Lymington.  I don't know what my mum and her 2 sisters were doing there.  I was left by myself, near the pool.  I was standing in one corner of the pool and I was looking at the other end of the pool's diagonal corner.  In that moment of time I thought; "I wanted to be in the water".

I could not swim at this stage.  Don't ask me where I got that notion from, I will never know.  There is no indication in my family that was involved in 'swimming' in anyway whatsoever.  It was to be at least another two years before I got any chance, to learn how to swim.

During the two years before our family went to Australia, our family with my aunts and their children would walk along a road that led to a beach called 'Hordle Beach'.  So I was not bereft of seeing any water at all and certainly not like that first time seeing water, the beach was composed of pebbles and when the tide went out there was some sand.

Moving to Australia in June 1969, was the best thing that my parents ever did and I have never had the inkling of going back to England.  I will go for holiday to see family members and that would basically be it.  We ended up in a city called Melbourne and eventually we did go to a swimming pool.

I wandered off looking around and of course I saw a big pool probably a 50 yard one.  Silly me, thinking I could jump in near the edge and steps, where one could get out.  Well I did jump in, I struggled and I was so close to the edge.

There were two young guys who were laughing and talking about my struggle.  I eventually grab the side and I got out.  Lucky me.  I have never told anyone of my little escapade, about that incident.  I could have drowned and I would not have been here to this day.  So the importance of learning how to swim cannot be emphasised enough, especially in a place like Australia wear the majority of people live near the sea.

The next encounters with water were as students we were taken to the 'local pool',  and what we did I have no idea.  Maybe a lesson of some sort, the only thing that I can recall is that the water was cold.  When we went back for another swimming lesson with the school, all I can remember that the water was going to be cold and I did not care, I just wanted to get in and swim.

We moved to a town were some relatives were living, where the weather was always hot regardless of the season, we returned to Melbourne and then back to that town.  I need to keep the name of this town private as I made myself widely know because of my exploits in swimming. 

This town is were I would often spend days playing and swimming all day at the local pool with my brothers, not the youngest, it only cost 20 cents to get in and we would find and retrieve money from the drains with a stick and pull out money which we would spend on a pie or sausage roll.  I guess I could sort of 'swim' at this stage.

One of the first lessons I ever had was how to breathe to the side by one of the pool operators, she was the mother of my future coach who taught me for over 10 years.  Yeah go figure, the coincident of that happening.

I was at this particular swimming pool, which by the was on a cliff top over looking the picturesque sea and it was a swimming carnival, I was entered into a few races and I was approached by someone I can't remember who, and they asked would I swim a lap of butterfly.

So that maybe I would gain some extra points and win the carnival, me butterfly, never swam butterfly at that point in my life.  So what do I do?  Yep, you guessed it, I swam a lap of butterfly and low and behold I made it.  Long story short on this, it became one of my favourite strokes.

Forward a couple of years, I was in boarding school for two years and I did do some training and I did enter a couple of events.  I just wanted to swim.  What stands out at this particular moment in time.  I was watching a race and noticed what the swimmers did when they reached the end of the swimming pool.

You either bang your head on the wall or you do a somersault.  That's nifty, so when I was racing.  I decided to do the same, well you should have seen me, I was disoriented, water going up my noses, gasping for breath and trying to go on my merry way, a complete stuff up,  yet so funny.  I remember that tumble turn so vividly to this day.  I did finish the race.  This period of swimming lasted between 1975 and 1976

Approximately around 1979 to the end of 1988.  I started the serious part of my swimming training under my coach who was an accredited level 3 swimming coach and over the next 10 years, our swimming team would travel all around competing in at least 8 different locations.  My big mouth got me into this crazy part of my life.  It all started in the office, where I worked and the guys in the office were talking about going to the pool and doing a few laps.

Trying to big note myself I said the same thing.  So to be honest with myself, I started doing just that.  I started out just doing 10 laps of the pool.  I was living by myself at that time and the pool I was going to spend the next 10 years of my life was basically, roll out of bed, into the car and travel 200m about (200yrd).  Then into the pool for a couple of laps.  The pool was literally next door to where I lived at the time.

After awhile I noticed the squad that was training and learnt the lingo and started copying what they did and eventually I then joined in the lanes they were swimming in.

Eventually I moved back home after mum came back from Canberra with my youngest brother, after a short partnership with a man that did not work out.  Its funny, I never worried about my mum finding a partner and accepted with out any conditions being placed on her.

She had a life to live as well, so how did I learn the value of acceptance.  There was my father and grandfather, who accepted me after I was born and later on, when my mum accepted me unconditionally with all her heart and love.  I suppose our acceptance of others was learned from others or around us or we born with it, meaning it was innate inside us.

My heart will go on, forever with love for them.  Sorry, I digress, I will have to stop doing it, why tears are streaming down my face and I'm listening to?  Yes you guessed it, My heart will go on.[1]  No I did not plan it, I was listening to a collection of cello music from celllist Stjepan Hauser from 2cellos fame when the Celine Dion music came on during the last three paragraphs.  So I played it three times, yeah I know, I'm crazy anyway back to Sarah's Passion.

I was then travelling over 10km to a swimming pool, then approximately 20km to work, so a total of 60km a day 300km a week so roughly 15,000km a year, 150,000km in 10 years approximately now I would say that's dedication, what do you say?  Yeah you really wanted to know that.

During that time I meet many famous swimmers of the time, Lisa Curry Kenny, Michelle Ford, Michael Klim, Tracey Wickham and the most famous of all Olympic Swimmers Dawn Fraser and I swam with her in a race (different age groups).  I remember watching her coming in to finish her race and I still remember seeing her swimming style or stroke and it was still beautiful.

Lets wrap this up shall we?  I actually question the actual year when the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS) held a National Championships, where I earned the gold and bronze medals that I mentioned in the other thread.  I dragged out my collection of medals and when I located the gold and bronze medal from the RLSS National Championships.  I noticed that I had another bronze medal,  Whoa was Sarah a good life saving swimmer or what?

The two years in question are 1987 and 1988, yes those two years where Sarah ventured out in the world for the first couple of times and of course I was competing at the RLSS National Championship, two years in the row.  It must have been 1987 that I won the gold and bronze and not 1988, So I believe and I won the other bronze medal in 1988 probably the same event that I won the gold in the previous year.

The event that I won the gold medal and the bronze medal the following year is an event where a scenario is set up were there are victims in various stages of distress in the water and you have to save them in a given amount time.  The gold medal event that I won, went like this:

In my scenario there were 3 victims. Time starts. Coming out of a sequestered area. Told bystander to go and get help.  One victim was half a pool width away, threw a kick board and it curved in the air like a boomerang and hit the victim on the chin, I said out loud grab the "kick board and kick to the side", I believe this is what got me the gold medal.

Grabbed a bucket jumped in and gave another victim the bucket and told them to swim to the side of the pool, they said, their baby was missing.  I jumped into the pool because there was an upturned canoe and I saw a 'baby doll', representing a drowning baby on the bottom of the pool.  I also kept an eye on the swimmer who was kicking there way with the kickboard and encouraging them to continue on.

Dived down retrieved the 'baby doll' came up to the surface and started resuscitation while swimming to the edge of the pool, put the doll on the edge and continued with resuscitation.  Time up.  The allocated amount of time was about 1min and 45 seconds.

So recap one gold medal in the life saving event in 1987 and the bronze medal for overall championship in the same year.  The other bronze for the same life saving event in 1988.

My swimming career petered out after 1990, every so often I would get in the pool and churn up the laps and I'm remiss for not carrying on with one of my passions in my life.  Surgery, going to universities to earn my degrees living with my boyfriend, teaching in the country side, finally returning home to Brisbane, got in the way.  I did not think about swimming as much, life just got in the way.

Then looking after mum and even though I was a lifeguard and swimming teacher.  I never got back into swimming per se.  Now that I have the time, I'm getting back into it, very similar to another famous swimmer called Shane Gould, after she became famous, she disappeared to live her life as a married mother and wife and then eventually found her way back into swimming.

So go after your dream, don't give it up. Just like me, I'm still trying to find out where that black line goes.

Best Wishes, Love and Hugs to Everyone
Sarah B
[1]  My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion
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