Dear Reader, welcome to this brief autobiography. Most autobiographies are long. This one isn’t. I just want to share the big stuff, not sweat the small stuff. Even if I included lots of detail, it wouldn’t tell you much more than the bare bones do. And anyway, it’s easier for us both if I keep it short. Enjoy!
On November the 5th 1952, I began my life in a little English village called Winsford. Five years later, my Mum, Dad, older sister and I sailed across the world to Perth, Western Australia on a ship named The Fairsky. We were “ten pound Poms”. We stayed in Western Australia for the rest of our lives.
I was born a human. Not by choice, as far as I can tell. It just happened that way. I could easily have been a porcupine or cow or caterpillar, even an amoeba. I’m sure they’d all have been equally great things to be, but I’m pleased I was a human.
My Mum and Dad were also pleased I was a human, and it was a happy day for them when I arrived. They loved me and cared for me. Things sometimes got less happy when I was growing up as we didn’t see eye to eye on a few important things (like the length of my hair). And we were rather typically British, a bit stiff and staid, seldom sharing how we felt. So we were often quite lonely, like a lot of families.
Later on we lightened up and shared some happy years together. In fact, we ended up very close. A year before my Mum died, she told me I was “like a bloodbrother” to her. Dad and I also became good mates during his closing few years. It was great. After they died, I missed them both a lot. I got on well with my sister too.
My life was short-ish, less than 100 years. The Moreton Bay fig trees in my old primary school playground lasted longer than I did. They actually outlasted everyone I ever knew.
Overall, I really enjoyed my life as a human, though there were occasional setbacks and regrets. I was emotionally intense – a good thing in most ways, I think, but it meant my life was a bit of a roller-coaster sometimes.
The good news is that I did many things I really loved, like proving the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, dressing up in a dinosaur costume for an after-school pickup (which caused a near-riot in the playground), singing on stage with Chris de Burgh, and owning a raucous cocky named Crackers. I loved animals, had quite a few pets. I once looked after a family of cows, and I was very fond of ibises. I played guitar, wrote and recorded some nice songs and a few funny ones. I even won some prizes with them.
I was strongly opinionated and I talked a lot, often about things I wasn’t qualified to talk about. But on the inside I could be quite unsure of myself and mostly felt shy and awkward around other people. But I had truly lovely friends. Some of those friendships spanned over 50 years. I was always a romantic. I got married three times, and I can’t count how many other times I fell in love. Then, in my old age, I was blessed to find a beautiful partner and soul-mate.
My absolute favourite thing was having a wonderful daughter. From the moment she was born she was the sun in my sky. She grew up and had two beautiful children. I adored them and they adored me. I’m glad I lived long enough to meet them, get to know them and share oceans of fun and love with them.
Then eventually I died.
And that’s it – a pretty good life, pretty well lived. If I had the chance, I’d go back and do it again, though there were times when I didn’t feel this way. Nice that I ended up happy and grateful for it. My sincere thanks to everyone and everything that helped make it possible.
Michael 🙂
