Last Friday night I finally got a chance to catch up with my old homestay mother – Valmai, with whom I had been living for over two years when I first came to Adelaide. We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant on Jetty Road, Glenelg.
It was great to catch up with her over a bowl of miso soup and many bars of sushi and fried tofu. Val hadn’t changed much from what I remembered of her. Being in her seventies, she laughs and jokes a lot and loves her community activities like bowling. Seeing her smiling face again reminded me so much of how she had always made her house feel like home to me.
Val eagerly told me all the stories about her teenage grandchildren, who were once my regular visitors and young companions during the days when I was living with her.....
'Ross is the tallest of the family now, almost as tall as his dad; Lucas is working with his mom & dad’s business, Monique is brilliant at school, Samantha just got her license, and Rosie is about to start pre-school…’
I listened joyfully to the Val’s cheerful monologe, as I sat there chewing my way through my sashimi, all the while cherishing the feeling of having an extended family here in Adelaide.