Hi it’s Chelsea, this week has been a week of reflection for me, so please excuse the lack of new posts to read. I’ve been doing mental gymnastics daily, which trust me is just as exhausting as it sounds. Today I want to tell you about my hero, my mother, Corry.
(Disclaimer: I know everyone has their own relationships with their mothers or mother figures so if this is a soft spot for you, especially with the next holiday coming up please skip this one.)
Now, not to brag, but my mother is the strongest woman I know. I know that people often idolise their parents, but the way I respect my mother feels as though it is on another level. Yes, she can be my best friend and also drive me insane sometimes, but at the end of each day I’m grateful I got to spend another 24 hours with her.
Today is my mum’s birthday, she’s 21 again, and this post is not only an extension of the very thorough birthday card I wrote, but it is also to give you all insight as to why I have nothing but respect for the woman who brought me into the world.
My mother had a hard upbringing, forced to work in her father’s factory creating hinges for doors when she was just a five year old child. She would have to complete a huge crate of hinges before she would be allowed to come home. I’ve been told numerous times that she absolutely despised this first job of hers, followed closely by picking strawberry’s for 5 cents per punnet. She has always been a strong woman, albeit a strong headed woman and a Taurus no less. She grew up in a time where discipline often meant choosing which belt to be used when beating her, or which cane a teacher would use on her.
When she left school she had secured a job as a postie, she would bike 40km some days, she likes to add here that this was before posties had motorbikes and that this was incredibly challenging, but the stubborn hard worker that she is kept her in this role until she was able to leave home.
Finally she got out of home and began working in kitchens and bars, which I hear was a lot classier back then. She was as suave as she was swift on her feet with regulars coming in at the same time daily. Mum was switched on and was ready with a drink in hand for those regulars, making her a favourite for sure. She was also running 10km in the morning, doing a gruelling gym workout and then another 10km run in the evenings… even I couldn’t do that… ever, not even in my prime.
She was “flatting” at this point. Any New Zealander would know what that means but essentially she was living with roommates. I have heard tale after tale about these times but my favourite is this. She would have her best girl friends over every night, drinking champagne and making the best entertaining platters to the point that her friend’s husbands used to hate her because they never saw their wives. Mum has always been a master of entertaining even til this day.
She continued working in various restaurants and bars and landed in Hamilton where she met my dad. One thing led to another and BOOM they were married. I took my time to grace them with my presence but when I did, I chose to make a very dramatic entrance. My mum and I both were in and out of being technically alive for hours, until she began turning blue which caused the delivery room to fill with doctors and nurses. Mum says it was a complete contrast of her quiet space before and then nearly 20 people in the room with her. I came along several hours later… “healthy”… Oh the irony.
Three and a half years of pure bliss was interrupted with the birth of my baby brother. I hear his birth was not nearly as dramatic meaning I win right? Our little family was complete and my mother was elated. She gave and continues to give us absolutely everything and more.
She then fell in love with interior design and completed a course in it. She made a job of displaying windows in department stores and was able to turn plain photos into inviting displays drawing buyers to the stores. If you know my mother then you know how extra she is around the holidays and I believe this started around this time. I remember pretending to be sick just to go to watch her work and turn each release of marketing into a work of art. These were my favourite days because we absolutely deserved hot chocolate with mini marshmallows each time.
Jack and I grew older and mum switched up her career, moving into the Employment and Manufacturers Association where she worked alongside my father. She was a bookkeeper, office manager, HR and owner and still had time to be an active part of our schools PTA. On the side she had renovated two houses turning them into homes and also looked after our chaotic little collection of pets, at one point we had four along with my brother and I. She made birthdays magical, each celebration being the most special and memorable days, but nothing compared to Christmas.
Not to go into a full dissection on my family life but my parents parted ways and mum decided to buy a play land. A play land is essentially a giant indoor playground with mechanical rides, party rooms and complete with a mascot – Which’s suit definitely was not worn by myself at any point, nor did I ever pass out while wearing it. She worked from 5am until at least 11pm every day, also leading me into my first unofficial job being a fully trained all rounder in the team. Her work ethic has always been borderline unparalleled which made her to decide to double her workload by purchasing another play land an hour and a half away. Not including the one she brought in Christchurch after the horrific earthquakes just to help liquidate a family who owned the one there but also to help them move forward. She has always been selfless. She will likely tear me a new one for sharing this but when money got tight she wouldn’t spend a single dollar on herself, not even buying new undergarments when hers could barely be called that.
We moved to Australia shortly after that and landed in Adelaide. In the most polite way possible, I did not love this city in the slightest. I kept up my perfect grades as she worked her hardest as a Before and After school care educator, quickly being promoted to coordinator by the end of our first year. This was when chaos struck, my mum had struggled with epilepsy since being run over as a child, she was four at the time and with medicine “as advanced as it was” they essentially “scooped” her brain back in. Not knowing the neurological impact that could have had at the time they stitched her up and sent her home. She had a seizure so bad that she broke her neck and was in a coma. She was told that she would be in the hospital for months, then would move to rehabilitation for another few months to learn how to walk again and then would leave the hospital. She walked out of that hospital 5 days later. She also had to return to work two weeks later just to make ends meet, she’s been a selfless example of a very strong woman.
We then moved to Brisbane to be closer to family. Mum worked again in the childcare industry and continued powering on despite having seizures. She was able to stabilise this thankfully. We had a few years of moving houses to find the perfect area for us, and when we did we hadn’t been able to leave. Mum then added the title of Nana to her list of accomplishments when we were blessed with our little man. We got the opportunity to raise him from when he was four until he was ten. I like to think that I was his favourite but I think mum definitely was.
While we don’t get to see our little bean anymore, we are still blessed to have been a part of his life and miss him daily, but that is a tale for another time.
Mum was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma cancer in 2023, the news was earth shattering and broke us all in a different way. I moved home to be closer to her. But true to who she is, she decided that traditional treatment would only harm her entire body and take up more of her life, she chose to treat her body naturally. Initially she was given 6 months to live. She’s powered through nearly two years in May. She’s the most mentally strong person I know, she is the one who has nursed me back to health after each surgery time and time again without complaint. And even when she is fighting her own battles still continues to put others ahead of her.
Getting another minute, hour or day with our beautiful mothers is a blessing. Each day I’m grateful to have her to talk to, cry to, laugh with and debate with. By telling her story I hope it gives others a second to appreciate the blessings that they have in their lives.
My mum is my hero, she’s who I want to be when I grow up. She stayed with me at my lowest in hospital just to keep the nurses away so I could get a couple hours of sleep. Shes been my rock through every storm and my way home when I get lost.
So happy birthday and early Mother’s Day to my beautiful, smart, sassy and intelligent mother. Every moment is a gift that’s why the call it the present.
XOXO Chelsea
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