Day 23: Pink (wedding) crystals 2

My pink obsession is coming through loud and strong in this blog. Never was it made so apparent than on my wedding day in December 2001. After much searching, we finally found the perfect shade of pink for my dress followed by a great dress maker - an ABC TV costume designer. We then set about finding someone to design some matching jewellery. Fortunately, we struck upon Sarina Suriano, recently returned to Sydney from Italy, who made me a simple pair of Swarovski crystal earrings which I'm wearing today, as well as crystal shoestring straps and a divine 50s inspired brooch - all precious wedding gifts from Robbie. We also had earrings made for our flowers girls, nieces Daisy, Millie and Caitlin, and our many little nephews wore pink ties made by Betty from my dress fabric.

13th Wedding Anniversary 2014

I always wear the earrings, and sometimes the brooch, on our wedding anniversary, when we try to make a pilgrimage back to where we were married - a beautiful manicured park in Elizabeth Bay, overlooking Sydney harbour.

Our wedding reception took place at a favourite restaurant, Pazzo, run by Raf, the charming maître d'. Raf went out of his way to meet our every request, including squeezing a record 60 people into his restaurant, on what was a sultry summer night. 



The reason I chose to wear these earring today was because I was meeting the wonderful Trevor Mathews for lunch, who features prominently in what is one of my most favourite photos ever, taken at the Wedding reception by my dear cousin Anthony. 

Enjoying Helen's speech

Helen in full dramatic flight

The photo captures the crowd's reaction to Helen Nelson's hilarious speech about Rob and me. Alongside Lizzie, Helen was our best woman, and a very close mutual friend of Trevor and his partner Lye. As a brilliant orator who loved performing to a crowd, Helen captivated the audience, comparing mine and Rob's long-blossoming romance to Arthurian characters Guinevere and Lancelot (thankfully she didn't run with the analogy to the point where for their sins, Lancelot ends his days as a hermit and Guinevere as a nun!). Trevor is in the foreground of this photo, next to Lye, both having a great chuckle; you can see the ripple run through the crowd as everyone joins in.

   

Lye, Lizze, Trevor and John, December 2015

Trevor and Lye have been longstanding friends, attached to the golden thread emanating from Sydney University where Trevor had a career as an eminent political economist and as a highly respected Head of Department of Government. Although Trevor and I did not cross over as colleagues for long, he welcomed me warmly into the Department and gave me great intellectual and moral support throughout my PhD, and has remained a close friend ever since. Lye, a most thoughtful and gentle man, had a highly successful career in Finance before retiring around the same time as Trevor. They've settled into the ideal lifestyle for two francophones/philes, dividing their time between Paris and Sydney. It's been such a pleasure to catch up with them when I've been passing through Paris, and to see them when we can in Sydney. I love hearing Trevor and Lye's take on politics - they are two of the best read and intelligent people I know - and I always come away learning something new.

Over our lunch today, Trevor, Rob and I compared our Cancerworld war stories; we missed Lye who is in Malaysia visiting his family.

On Day 23 I've been feeling pretty average. The nausea is definitely worse this time around, and the fluid is building up under my arm again. Fortunately, I have access to breakthrough meds, and I see the lymphodema specialist on Friday. Just for fun, the injection I had this afternoon for the neutrophils is likely to give me flu-like aching symptoms for a couple of days. But the company of a dear friend, the care of my boys and my sparkly pink earrings carrying such happy memories helped kept me on track.