The Wild Reed: Home to Be With Mum

Monday, June 23, 2025

Home to Be With Mum

I’m currently in my homeland of Australia where I’ll be spending the next three weeks with my family — my mum in particular. As some reading this will already know, mum has recently had some health issues.

Although she continues to make a good recovery from the stroke she experienced two months ago (just a day after my return to the U.S. after a month-long visit), mum will be moving into the assisted-living section of the retirement village in Port Macquarie that’s been her home since 2013, first with dad and then, after his passing in 2019, on her own.

The time is right for this move, and I’m looking forward to helping it go as smoothly as possible. I’m also looking forward to supporting mum during this time of transition and change, and to spending meaningful time with my family.

Following are some photos of my journey from Minneapolis to Guruk (aka Port Macquarie).

Above: Late-spring light in my attic apartment in south Minneapolis on the morning of my departure for Australia – Thursday, June 19, 2025.

Right: My dear friend Kate drove me to the airport on Thursday. On the way, we had a delicious lunch at Wise Acre Eatery in Minneapolis.

Above: Californian hills outside of San Francisco.

Above: Leaving the U.S., with the lights of San Francisco in the distance.

Above: Flying over the wharf of the former Kurnell Oil Refinery (now an import terminal) in Botany Bay. We were coming in to land at Sydney Airport – Saturday, June 21, 2025.

After landing at Sydney Airport’s international terminal, I made my way to its domestic terminal (above and below). Here I boarded my flight with QANTAS to Port Macquarie.

Above: Shortly after takeoff, the plane that took me to Port Macquarie yesterday morning flew right over Sydney Harbour. What a spectacular view I was treated to! . . . It was just over two months ago that I had a much more up-close experience of this world famous harbour.

Above: A view of the beautiful mid-north coast of New South Wales – Saturday, June 21, 2025.

Above: Mum — Saturday, June 21, 2025.

I think the photo above is a lovely one of mum, but she’s not so enthusiastic about it, saying she looks like an “old lady.” 🤣

While in Port Macquarie I’m staying at mum’s villa in the independent-living section of her retirement village. For almost a decade now, this very spacious villa has been home for me whenever I’ve returned to Australia from the U.S. for a visit. It’s definitely strange to be staying here alone. Indeed, I realized on my first night that I’m here with my father’s ashes and my mother’s absence.

It is without doubt a challenging time for my mother. Yet in certain ways it’s also a time of transition and change for our entire family, myself included. Now that mum’s in assisted-living, my days of having a “home” in my homeland are coming to an end. With such a realization there comes a range of emotions. And yet I remain hopeful . . . for both myself and mum.

Interestingly, within an hour of arriving at mum’s villa, I came across a book in the kitchen/dining area. It was Julia Cameron’s Transitions: Prayers and Declarations for a Changing Life, a book that Cameron herself describes as “a companion in challenging times.” A page was bookmarked, no doubt by mum, and I immediately experienced the prayer on this page as a blessing, one that I continue to hold in my heart; again, for both myself and mum.

All change can be expansive in potential. The choice is ours. As I open my heart to accept change, my heart softens and grows larger. Every experience carries the seed of transformation. Every event can bring blossoming and wealth. My personal will can resist change or embrace it. The choice is mine and determines the life I will have.

Today, I choose to embrace change. I open my heart to its hidden but abundant blessings.

– Julia Cameron
Excerpted from Transitions: Prayers and Declarations
for a Changing Life
p. 3

Above: For the last two mornings I’ve watched the sunrise from this bench on Port Macquarie’s Shelly Beach. It’s been a very grounding, very anchoring way to start each day.