Blue Holiday

Five year old Jamie and his mother were driving on the freeway, from the Central Coast of NSW Australia down to Sydney. They were going to visit Jamie's mother Tanya's sister Natalia, who had just moved down to Hornsby with ther fiance Heath.

"What are those Mummy?" Jamie asked, pointing at some hills in the distance. The blue mountains. Jamie was a curious kid. "He'll be a smart one someday, Tanya. You just watch." His grandfather would always say. Tanya believed it. All she had to do was feed his mind. That was simple. All she had to do was answer all of his questions, so he had a lot of things to think about.

"That's the Blue Mountains, Jamie." Tanya explained. "Two weeks from now, when I have time off work, we'll go there, for a little holiday." She promised. "Ok." Jamie agreed.

The Blue Mountains was a special place for Tanya. It was where she had spent her last three years at high school, Where she had met, gone out with and marrried Jamie's father Nate and where Jamie had been born and grew up for 3 years. But most sadly, it was where Nate had passed away. Tanya, Nate and Jamie had gone horse riding. Jamie had been one and a half at the time. Nate had fallen off his horse. They had had another son, Hamish, who had been riding with Nate before the accident. Hamish had died as well.

Tanya's life, she would admit had been very hard. She had lost her husband and two children. Her other daughter, Megan had died in Tanya's womb. Tanya had had a still birth. That had been sad. Megan would have been nine now if she had been alive, Hamish would have been eight.

But now, Tanya felt ready. Ready to go back there again. She wanted to go back. One of the days, she planned to visit the cemetery where Nate, Megan and Hamish were burried, all together. It was about time Jamie knew. She wouldn't tell him the truth about the passings though. She might just tell him, Dadddy had the scarf wrapped too tight round his neck, Hamish jumped to high on the trampoline, or Megan ran too hard, smack bang into a wall. He didn't need to know the truth yet. Not the whole truth anyway.

So, Tanya and Jamie went to the Blue Mountains two weeks later, as planned. They had an absolute ball. Something magical happened while they were away. Tanya met someone. They had a fling. You could call it a 'winter romance.'

When they were due home, Tanya's new boyfried Tim came with her and Jamie. He said that he'd pack up his house and move down there to be with them.

As Tanya put it, on she and Tim's wedding day, "You were a flicker of light when my life was dim." Jamie, Tanya and Tim lived happily from then on and didn't have a care in the world. The small little family continued going to the Blue Mountains once a year every year. They went back to where it all began...