Christmas day in Pittsworth in Adventures in paradise

I am here.

In an end room of my parent’s new house in a single bed. It’s a very modern yet small room, everything is white except the curtain which is a tartan grey.

I got here fairly early after leaving Brisbane around 5am. I got to Toowoomba and went to the gym for a while until 8am. There were a couple of other people there, which was good to see on Christmas Day. I went to The Range one this time, now that I knew it was there. It’s much nicer than the Ruthven Street one. Of course, knowing my luck, this really cute guy walks into the gym with a short, slightly overweight chick who had massive tits. He was only really young and can’t have been much more than 18 or so at a guess. He was teaching her how to do some exercises, which was nice to see. I’d describe him as slim-fit, you know, like he has the upper body muscle but wasn’t bulky in the slightest.
I spent a while trying to decide if the girl was his sister that he’d bought a gym membership for (for Christmas) or if she was his girlfriend he was trying to get into shape, because let’s face it, once that girl loses her weight, her tits would be a complete headlight package and he would show her off to his mates.
The ponderings of my mind, hey? :P

So I get out here to Pittsworth around 9amish. Before I even went to my parent’s place, I visited the cemetery and paid my respects to Sean, Brandon and Lucas. Sean’s ground-plaque was adorned with stuff he loved, footy team flags, bottles of beer. In fact every time I’ve visited, Sean’s gravestone has been well maintained and I can see the love so many had for him. Its been around 4.5 years now since he passed. I still remember going to school with him, my slight crush on him and going to that rugby match with him and Billy. I only have a few short, but good memories of him.
Brendon I didn’t know that well, other than he was one of my schoolmates.
Lukas, of course, was one of my inspirations. I said a quick hello to his gravestone and looked at the dates of birth and death engraved into it. He passed a year and a bit after Sean did. Just amazes me how time flies. Whether Lukas was now simply a skeleton down below my feet, or there is an afterlife, I guess I won’t find out until I’m gone too.
I wasn’t sad, being there. I just felt like it was a respectful thing to do. I knew them, although none of them well, but I feel they were taken too soon, all in their 20’s.
I don’t think any new grave sites had been added. I noticed one, so I had a look. A lady’s name I didn’t recognise.

I wasn’t there long. I kind of hopped out, had a look, paid a silent respect to them and jumoed in the car again, off to my parents on the other side of town.

Both of my brothers were already here, as were all my nieces/nephews (two nieces and a nephew to my older bro, and one nephew to my younger bro).
The youngest nephew had been reading into presents all morning and was still going at it. I got given a card from my mum, which contained a $50 note, so that was nice. It’ll probably go on fuel on the drive home though haha so a bit of a waste but hey, I made it.
My sister and bro-in-law and oldest nephew arrived shortly after, so it was good to see them again. My sister was in a fuchsia outfit and just looked flawless. She stuns me every time I see her, even now in her early-40’s.

We all went to church for an 11am service. I couldn’t even recall the last time I set foot within a church, especially that church. I said to mum it must’ve been at least a decade since I was last here. Not that anything has changed, nor ever will. There were a few hand-stiched cushions on each of the wooden pews however, and someone had put a long cushion on the ground at the alter so it was no longer uncomfortable on the knees to kneel for communion.
Upon entering, I noticed a middle-aged guy in a wheelchair and I said a cheery ‘hello’ to him as I entered my pew aisle. He smiled and said ‘Hi’ back. I noticed no one else seemed to acknowledge him. I assumed he may have been a regular but it saddened me a little. During communion they obviously took the cup down to him.

But MAN that service was boring. I mean, it was mundane! All the hymns are so old and traditional from like the 1700’s and nothing has changed at ALL since I was 18. How I did this every Sunday as a kid is beyond me. Every single hymn is completely monotone and even strains the voice to try to sing. Of course, being raised Lutheran, everyone sits to sing and stands up for the spoken parts, another thing that hadn’t and will never change. I found myself feeling exhausted just from trying to push out those difficult hymns and I definitely wasn’t even singing loud at all. That, and they drrrrrrraaaaaaaggggg. Ergh. I thought that service was never going to God-damn end! :P

Some of us walked to the church, as it was only 10 mins, but it was a pretty hot day! Out in the country, you get the heat from the sun and the ground hitting you. Generally in the city, I have buildings providing some shade-shelter, but the only shade out here really is the odd Eucalyptus tree. I thought for sure I was gonna end up burn-burned, but I seem to be okay.

Lunch was lovely. I’d already been snacking on all the snacks put out all morning but I was still hungry.
My niece and Goddaughter surprised me with a compliment! She says to me, “You look like you’re really bulking up, Uncle Matt!”
I smiled and said, “Thanks, I’m trying to” :) So that was nice.
They now reside in Brisbane with my brother in an inner-city suburb nearby to where I am, but I haven’t seen them since they moved.

Dad put on a blu-ray DVD of New Zealand, which we spent most of the afternoon watching. He bought it from Readers Digest, and since they just returned from their cruise there, I guess it made a lot of sense. It was interesting enough. I wouldn’t have a clue what other countries looked like if it weren’t for documentaries like that.

My sister and bro-in-law took off early, as usual and my older bro and the girls left toward evening. I gave each of my nieces a hug. Apparently they want to get back to Brisbane for the Boxing Day sales. I said to Georgia, “You’ll get stampeded,” and right away she says, “I’ll be doing the stampeding.”
Ha!
Georgia had me laughing though. My dad left buying fresh prawns too late and everywhere had sold out, so he had to buy uncooked ones. He began to cook them and the whole house had this disgusting aroma of strong seafood. I was sitting on the couch when I overheard Georgia telling my other niece that it reminded her of something. I just about snorted my drink through my nose when she quietly added, “The girls bathroom (at school)” LOL.
It was right then and there I was thankful for my 15_year old niece being there.

They left and my older bro said we should catch up in SouthBank or something. We live either side of the river now, so there’s not really a reason not to. I said ‘Yeah, now that I won’t be sleeping during the day, it should be easier,’ so I guess I’ll just wait and see if that happens.

I crashed out around 6pm. I couldn’t stay awake any longer. Considering I’d been up since 8pm the previous night, 22 hours was enough for me. Adding on the heat, food, church and chatting, I think I did well.

I did wake up around midnight though, so I’m up writing this. Not like there’s anything else to do out here. Ive barely got one-bar of reception, and that’s even with Optus. Certainly no fast 4-G coverage out here!

I said I’d stay here tomorrow night as well, but I doubt I will. I think my little bro and his fiancé are out here for a week or so. Not sure. Toby is loving it, playing with all his toys and seemingly never running out of energy. To think I was that young once.

My mum got one of her neighbours to take a group photo. It’s on my facebook but Ill edit it in here when I’m able.