Last splash at Waterview Heights
5 March 12
We stopped yesterday for probably the last time at David’s parents’ property outside Grafton. The house is no longer there, only its concrete slab remains.
This is the same house that burned down in October 2010 after we had spent a week in the area and brought friends for a water-skiing weekend. Now David’s parents are selling their two acres and building new lives — Hugh in Kurri Kurri and Roselin in Woolongong.
Early in our marriage, David and I agreed that relationships are more important than possessions, and in the beautiful Grafton house I felt that the house’s state was more important than how the children interacted together or with their grandparents. So it was a relief for me when the house burned down. It represented all the angst that I felt when I had to stifle our children’s creativity and energy because the building and its contents were considered too precious to damage.









We’ve had many good times at this location. This is the property at which we got married. We taught our children how to swim in the pool. This has been the location for family reunions.
Even after the house burned down, we camped with friends in the front yard and cooled off in the pool. In many ways, this has been an easier place to visit without the house.
So it’s fitting that we had the opportunity to have one last swim in the pool before it is belongs to someone else. Adieu, Kingfisher Place, Waterview Heights, Grafton.
1 · holly c. · 11 March 2012, 22:37
I really love the photo of you and Calista in the pool!
2 · Paulo · 12 March 2012, 16:19
I laughed when I read “So it was a relief for me when the house burned down.” Hahahaha!
3 · Jess · 22 March 2012, 14:14
I just come across your blog and I’m very much enjoying reading through it, especially as an Australian resident myself. I had to comment on this post, because what you describe about your kids being subdued is very much what I see happen to my sister’s kids at my mum’s house. She’s just so much of a neat freak, it drives us INSANE! Thank you for the reminder that enjoying life should always be above “things”. Now, to teach my mother that… lol