Everyone loves a love story right?
It's the story of how Pete and I met.
A good ten years before we met and fell in love I admired Pete from a distance.
Not in a romantic way, I was in a long term relationship.
The first time I laid eyes on Pete was at the launch of a calendar he had photographed to save the Goolengook Rainforest.
Hearing him speak that night I was full of admiration for his free spirit, for his free thinking, for the way he stood up for things he believed in and completely in awe of his photography.
I bought the calendar and after the year was over I cut the photos out of the calendar and stored them in a tea chest. I didn't know Pete and I didn't meet him that night. I saved the photos for years.
In my mid twenties the relationship I was in ended and I spent a few years living out a bit of arrested development. I was old before my time during my teens so I gave myself a second chance at the adolescent years in my late twenties, some of it wasn't pretty but oh well lucky for my kids I got that out of my system then!
I was almost twenty nine when a switch flicked in my being, that switch I'd heard about but didn't believe in until I experienced. 'Must find father of my children' played over and over in my brain.
I became clearly focused on finding the love of my life to have children with.
I remember talking to a happily married friend who had two children and asking her, "How do you know when you've met the right person?" "You just know" she said with reassurance and confidence in her voice. I wasn't convinced.
It was during this time that Pete reappeared in my life.
A mutual friend asked me to interview Pete for a magazine story.
We met at a cafe and Pete told me his story of travelling to Arnhem Land to record and photograph the stories of the Yolngu people in North East Arnhem Land.
At the end of the interview Pete said, "I'd like to read it before you submit it to the editor". This caught me by surprise. It wasn't standard procedure for me to do this with people I interviewed.
"Ok" I said tentatively.
A week later Pete came over to my house and read the story I'd written about his life.
Let's just say there was a lot of creative toing and froing about what should stay in the story and what should be cut! This would be the first of many creative tussles between us.
Our friendship was born but it would be some months and some serious soul searching on my behalf before our relationship was swept into love and romance.
Eleven years later, two beautiful children later we are living our happily ever after in all its raw and honest glory.
We are both creative, sensitive, spirited souls which doesn't always make for smooth sailing but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Our lives together are rich and compelling.
My friend was right, you just know.
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