Dorothy

She is always Mum when I think about her, or see the few photos I have of her without multiple family members around her. My youngest sister took to calling her by her name  (and my father by his); by that time I was well and truly away from home.

Born to a woman descended from French immigrants and a man of English descent, she spent her early years in Tauranga, where she met my eldest sister's father. During the early stages of World War II she joined a group writing letters to New Zealand servicemen who had been injured overseas. She wrote to my father in hospital in Fiji. He replied. He returned to New Zealand and they met face to face, already knowing each other. 

Like most girls of her generation, higher education was out of the question. She lived a life of service to family. In the early years of the struggle to make a success of a dairy farm on poor quality land she shared many of the tasks with my father. Later, her assistance was needed only during the haymaking; we had haystacks, not bales. Certainly not the round bales currently popular.She would be on top of the stack and Dad threw the hay up by the fork full. 

Cameras were rare in those days. My father had one before the war. Along with all other "unnecessary" possessions, he disposed of it before leaving for overseas. We had few photos which were not, like this one, taken as a portrait with proper lighting and posing; until I was nearly 10.

In later years, she and I had many a discussion on political matters in the broadest sense. She (and my father) were conservative country people, and I know that there were times when my attitudes jarred. Nevertheless she would always discuss the issues with me and there was never a rejection of me even when she totally rejected my opinions.

When I told her that I was going to train to become a psychiatrist she told me that she was not surprised as I had apparently said to her when still at primary school. "I wonder how the brain works". I'm still wondering and often think that if the brain were simple enough for us to understand, we'd be too stupid to do so.

Thanks to Ceridwen for the suggestion  to post such a photo.