FOR SOME REASON I NEVER POSTED THIS, IT WAS STILL IN THE DRAFT SECTION, SO AM GOING TO DO THAT TODAY, AS IT IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF MY TIME IN TASMANIA.

I am by nature quite a reserved person when it comes to personal details, however I realise that I wanted to share with you some of the fun times I had, whilst living in Tasmania. I lived for just over two years in Tasmania, and made treasured friends, two came to Canada last year.

Another friend sadly passed over whilst I was there, she had a huge impact on my life, an older lady, Nancy. They cut the mold with Nancy, 80+ spunky, defiant to the end, and I loved her.

We shared many many fun times together, she could be irascible, but oh she was never dull!

She would be so happy to see me now, with a man I love and who loves me, for who I am, warts and all!  She had experienced that kind of relationship, a special love to be treasured and appreciated.

I learnt so much from her, and I will always remember, with a smile on my lips, the precious times I shared with her. Despite our difference in age, we were mates, who laughed together, shared together and really enjoyed each other’s company. 

My friendship with Jackie, the psychic I had met, and her husband had blossomed.  Jackie and I had become bosom buddies, she was just the kind of female friend we ladies need, and we shared many an evening together, after her husband went to bed, sipping wine as the sun set.

Was there any 'love' interest for me?  Hm - well of course, lol.

Well when I say of course...let us get something straight...I had been married once and had only known one man, so we aren't talking super experienced lady here folks. I was happy living the solo life, discovering who I now was, and I believe, experiencing this, was one of the main reasons I was guided to Tasmania. 

Eventually I met Dudley, we were introduced through a mutual friend and sparks flew from our first meeting! Sparks of the sexual kind! We had a wonderfully fulfilling and fun time for a couple of months. An interlude for two people who had been alone for some time, it was full of frolics, champagne and the total abandonment of who I had been. But the sparks started to fizzle out, and we parted company; but I had so much to be thankful for, and I know we both benefited in so many ways from our time together.

I am only sharing this very personal part of my life with you because there are many bruised, scared and anxious folks who have been, or still are in the same situation I was in. Alone after a long relationship, perhaps who married young and have no other sexual experience except from your partner.

Suddenly you are having to look at yourself in a new light, and one that is often laden with criticism or self-doubt. It can be so easy to convince yourself that you are unattractive, that no-one could possibly be interested in you. I felt just like that, I had never believed I was attractive, so self-doubt was deeply embedded in my psyche.

So when this very attractive man came into my life, I had a choice, go for it, let go of who I had been, or thought I had been, and embrace, in more ways than one, the potential that life was offering me. I took that chance and it made such a huge difference to me.

Dudley made me feel attractive, beautiful, desired; we had such a good time together, but it wasn't meant to last. He was brought along to torpedo me out of the comfortable and safe zone I had cocooned myself in, and begin to live again, to shed the past like a snake sheds it skin.

I will always be so thankful that I said yes to this emotional challenge, to being vulnerable and yes to the step that began my journey to meeting the man who fills my life every day, with absolute love and joy. But way more to tell you before we get to that.

Life in Tasmania had its own routine, in the summer, on a sit on mower, it would take me two hours to cut the grass, praying that I wouldn’t run into any snakes!

I loved the open spaces that filled every view from my home, I got used to the nighttime visitors and noises. I even helped the owner of my house by driving a tractor in his organic vineyard; he needed to put the nets over the grapes to protect them from the birds. Mind you if I had known how long I would be doing it, and the effort needed to keep the clutch down,  I might not have been so keen to do it.