Who is this (full) bush rat?

To make life easy, I have copied my online dating profile ...

Born: 1 January 1972, Pukekohe, NZ

Gender: Female (the old-fashioned kind)

Occupation: Creative Accountant

Claim to fame: Highly Commended - Pet Section - Goats (Mercury Bay Area School, 1978)

Favourite animal: Squirrel

Favourite quote: When you’re going through hell, don't stop

Things I am thankful for: Toilet paper, cows, petrol and power steering, air conditioning, zinger burgers

Things I can't live without: All the above + coffee, laughs, hugs, cheese

My best attributes: My smile, my sense of humour, my kindness. I'm also really good at laundry.

Friends would describe me as kind, quirky, fun with a splash of reckless abandon. I am well mannered, generous, can hold my knife and fork correctly and don't wear ugg boots in public. I Iive in a teeny tiny 1886 cottage outside Bungendore, NSW. My companion is a 10-year old Kelpie, Lucy, aka shit-of-a-dog who has arthritis, dementia and a penchant for paw paw cream and wombat poo.

In 2022, quite a few shit things happened (actually, quite a few shit things happened in the years before that, I'll write about those another time) ... there was a cancer diagnosis, then treatment (surgery, chemo, radiation). At the same time, my 5-year relationship fell apart. It was a very painful and lonely year. Summed up by Liz in her 1992 speech, it was “… not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an 'annus horribilis.”

I am slowly recovering - though have come to the realisation I will never be the same person I was BC (Before Cancer). That's a tough thing to reconcile because I quite liked the old me - warts and all. Sometimes I find it hard to remember the good stuff. When it all gets too much, I retreat into my burrow with a glass of champagne, my dog and write.

Writing my K2B2 blog was not only a way to practically share my shit 'journey' with faraway friends and family, it was also cathartic (don't underestimate the healing power of smashing your anger and sadness out on a keyboard). As I hammered away, there were times I found myself smiling - laughing even. In fact, if the only reason I write this blog is to make me - and possibly someone else - laugh, I think that is reason enough 🙂