![APRIL-CALENDAR [2015]](https://kimlhine.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/april-calendar-2015.jpg)
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So today I’m going to introduce you to my eldest child.. my “Son from Another Mother” We all call him Kit.. my husband tried to name him “Kit” after his hero the comic book character “Kit Walker” AKA The Phantom, the ghost who walks, the man who never dies, the one who is “rough roughnecks” sorry! I’ve lived with this for the last 15 years it wears off on you!!
The Phantom guards the entrance to the Children’s sleeping areas fondly known as the “Skull cave“
But again I digress.. my Husband is obsessed in a good way with the Phantom and that might be a post all of its own.. he wanted to name his son “Kit Jay” but decided to go with “Christopher Jay Hine” The idea of calling “Kit” “Chris” just seems wrong, so no one calls him “Chris” he is… “Kit” except on facebook, he’s Kittapiller, also cute!
So Kit was born on May 25th 1988, a Centenary year for Australia so he got some special coin minted for Centenary babies born in that year, given to him by the staff at the Bundaberg Hospital in far North Queensland where he was born.
I first met Kit as an 11-year-old, he turned 12 that year and started secondary school, he was living with his Dad in Sunbury when I met my Bloke, I remember one of the first school holidays Kit had, he came and spent the days with me and the Children while Rob worked, and we spent his school holidays catching up on his school homework. To say Kit enjoyed school would stretch anyone’s imagination, he tolerated school, he did not enjoy being locked indoors when there was so much else he could be doing. Although through helping Kit with his homework, I learn about some new authors and one series of books “Tomorrow when the War began” by John Marsden became a family favourite. Another one he’d left till the very last-minute was “A Bridge to Wiseman’s Cove” and he asked me “Kim can you help me please?” so I sat with him and flicked through the book helping him to answer the questions he needed and to write his essay, as I flicked through it I thought “this book seems ok,” so once he was finished with it I went on and read it, My Star son has also just read it.
They’re a weird Mob, but they’re our mob!
When we moved to Sunbury, Kit went from being an only child and having his Dad to himself, to having to share not only his Dad and his house but also his room, now that I look back I am sorry I did that to Kit, we bombarded him. We worked out pretty quickly that it wasn’t working so when we brought the bigger house we gave Kit his own room.
“Blended” families are NOT easy, and I don’t care who tells you they are I swear they are lying. No one wants things to be hard, but you can’t take two different sets of family and combine them into one without a lot of hard times, tears and tantrums, and my family were no different. That is unless your name happens to be “Brady” and you have a live in maid called “Alice” then it might be fun and games and love and sunshine.. that did NOT happen in our house.
Kit went from an only child to the eldest of five siblings, I was sadly not as present for Kit as I should have been I was very focused on newborn Star Son and 8 yr old troubled child Jarrah. So while I dd everything for Kt that I should have done I was not there emotionally for him, it was all too hard, and I regret that A LOT.
When Kit turned 16 yrs old, he decided that he’d had enough of school and it all came to a head when he failed every subject and his Dad was greatly disappointed and they got into a very heated discussion.. as I played referee and separated them into separate rooms to calm down, Kit did a runner, he left the house and refused to return. The Bloke, knew where he was and tried to calm thins down and get Kit home, but then speaking to Kits friends Mum, he agreed to let Kit have a few days to calm down and then get together to talk calmly.. sounded like a feasible plan. BUT then on the Monday when Kit knew his Dad was at work, he came home with the girlfriend and her Mum and packed his stuff into garbage bags and left.. within a space of 20 minutes he was gone… the thing that hurt the most about it all was that he took the Kitten as well.
The Oldest Son and the Youngest Son at Amber’s 21st in March 2013
The Bloke felt hurt, he felt betrayed and he mostly felt abandoned and for about 3 months, life was hard and rough. I reminded the Bloke (never realizing that I too would be reciting that same thing a few years later as My Son Jarrah left me) “if you love something let it go, if it comes back it’s yours if it doesn’t it never was” We are only here to hold their hands a short while and then we have to set them free… but the Bloke was hoping for a few more than 16 years with his son.
Kit however moved on and upwards and the girlfriends Mother took over his care, “The Bloke” was devastated that his son whom he loved more than anything would just leave him like that. And no amount of trying to get them to talk would work.
Eventually Kit got work, he moved away further to Castlemaine, he made his own friends who had different life styles to us, and different from his Dad had hoped for him, but really Kit is just a mini version of his Dad. When the Bloke was in his late 20’s he and his best friend Ron, brought an old Dodge Ambulance and fixed it up and traveled around parts of Australia, living and working, when I remind the Bloke of THAT he says “yeah, but I came home and settled down, I had schooling to support me to get a well paid job” it doesn’t matter… we might not agree with Kit’s lifestyle, we fondly call him “our wild hippie child” he wears dreadlocks and has piercings and tattoos, and so he doesn’t look like everyone else, he also thinks outside the box, but he’s smart and when he has a plan and wants to fulfill it he will find work and settle down.
Like the time in about 2011, he decided he wanted to go to Israel and meet his then girlfriends family, he got himself a job, he moved home for three months and saved every cent he could, and he went to Israel. I told my Bloke “he’s doing more with his life than we are, sure he doesn’t have a conventional job, and he probably wont ever buy a house, he might not give the Bloke grandchildren but he’s happy and he’s travelling and living life” I must confess I wished I was going to Israel with him.
Kit in Israel 2011.
Currently Kit is working his way around New Zealand, he goes “WOOFING” which stands for “Working On Organic Farms” When Kit decided to go to New Zealand, he decided to take his Dog “Dooley” and it ended up costing more to take his dog than it did to take himself. Kit can go anywhere and find himself some work, enough to feed himself and to get a bed for a while he’s just as happy to camp somewhere. He’s actually working at the moment and saved himself enough to get a car and is now saving for a boat! and we his “Parents” are saving to go to New Zealand to visit him.
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- Dad’s “Hawaii 50 Birthday” Father and Son photo.
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- he’s going “hippie”
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- Gatecrashing the “girl’s” Party preparations. Kit, Jasmin, Amber and family friend Gemma
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- Four generations, Fran (Tanny) grandson Kit holding Great Grand daughter Scarlett and Dad the Bloke, March 2015
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- most recent photo (taken from his FB page) in New Zealand
We are coming to the end of the immediate family.. We have two more Star Son who you will meet at letter “W” and The Bloke you’ll meet at letter “R” there are a few extras who will be filed under “L” My cousin Lee, “N” Nieces and Nephews, “O” other family, they will include in laws and outlaws and maybe a sibling.
Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!
Kim L Hine 