AS you grow older your memory certainly gets cloudier, although it tends to be selective about what it does or does not remember.
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I can name the Balmain team that faced off against South Sydney in the 1969 rugby league grand final and can just about name the Rabbitohs’ line-up as well.
And I’m considered a game breaker when people argue about the history of the Steamers’ rugby union club.
But then I’ll leave my desk and forget where I’m going — or why — after I’ve only walked 10 metres or so.
The lives of my kids, from cradle until now, are pretty much permanently etched in my memory and if not, can be resurrected by a picture from that time.
I reckon my recollection of my daughter’s life is slightly better than that of the D-Mac’s, if only because she’s been around longer.
I can remember her birth perfectly, her first day at home, the first day I looked after her by myself and all those other firsts like pre-school, kindergarten, high school and ballet performances.
And all those times when your heart broke as they faced the cruel pains of growing up and you were helpless to do anything; like when she forgot her steps in a dance performance and had to run off the stage.
She was only a small child and I almost start bawling when I look back on that day.
Or the time when she had to hand over her pet rabbit to the vet, knowing it had myxomatosis and she would never see it again (now the screen is really starting to get a bit blurry).
But as your kids get older and they start ticking off all those milestones and things you expected would happen to them as they grew up, there is a growing anxiety as you realise your life is about to change in a big way.
The Princess Legend is a strong-willed, free spirit who has done a lot more travelling than her parents have, combined.
My fear has always been she would end up travelling to Europe one more time and decide to live and work there indefinitely.
However those fears have now been allayed — at least in the short term.
At the age of 24 my first born has bought her first home and that is something I take immense pride in.
The kid’s good with money and I couldn’t be happier she has put her money into bricks and mortar.
And having started early in her life, she will probably pay it off early in her life and be able to enjoy financial security in her middle years.
I don’t know where her clues for managing money came from, because neither of her parents are that flash at it.
I’ve always thought financial management should be a compulsory subject at school, so kids start obtaining and using their cash to hit the ground running when they leave school.
And another subject I reckon should be compulsory is politics — especially given some of the absolute garbage I hear around the traps.
I’m not talking about opinions here, just some of the ridiculous things people claim to be facts.
I reckon it’s very scary how ignorant your average Australian is when it comes to politics.
However, I doubt I have ever been prouder of my daughter than at the last federal election.
She spent hours, and I mean hours, researching everything she possibly could in relation to the election because she was terrified she would cast her vote in a manner that was detrimental to her country.
I don’t know how she voted, even though her paternal grandmother and her father have strong ties to the conservative side of politics and her mother is friendly with a number of politicians from that side of the political spectrum.
But I do know a hell of a lot of adult Australians should take a leaf out of her book and follow her leadership.