Oiiiii I'm Here

I was born at Wodonga District Hospital in Victoria (I don't tell a lot of people that) on August 5 (I tell EVERYONE that), 1980 at 4.35pm, to Yvonne May Craig, or 'Ossie' to all those who love her.  

My mum is the youngest in a big old Irish Catholic family of mostly boys. She was the youngest and lost her Dad when she was 9 years old. Mum is a bloomin legend for the woman she became out of such a rubbish start to life.  I could write ten years of books about her, but that's not my story to tell.  One funny thing is that Mum has 4 big brothers and she thought she was the fifth boy.  So she hated being a girl (country boys are cool apparently) and mum particularly hates being called Yvonne.
I think Yvonne is an awesome name, but I've got enough 80's parenting inspired respect to know... if mum prefers 'Os'... we call her Os! So I'm one of Ossie's kids.
My father is Graham Ferry.  He is a really good man who Mum had a great relationship with but wasn't destined to be with for life.  I know him, he's great and that's a story for later.
Mum's sidekicks in life when I came along were my nan, Nancy Craig; and mum's besties Mooka, Cookie and Wendy Carruthers.  They're main characters in mum's blog, but still important to note around this whole 'having a baby as a single mother at 21 years old' time of my welcome to the world.

Anyways..
I weighed 7pound 5 or whatever that means in the metric system.  Something about 2.2 pounds to the kilo.  All I know is that I arrived a touch early and I gave Mum a bit of stress because apparently I died a couple of times on the labour table.
Mum is a pretty chilled lady, she's a child of the 60's and 70's who already went through more in her short 21 years than anyone should have to, BEFORE I came along, and top that with being a trained nurse.  So not only was she pretty chilled out - she had that nursey ability to just get on with things regardless of what is happening in front of her..  In this case, her newborn's heart stopping a couple times was no worries mate.  So the Doctors did their thing and the national treasure of Australia couldn't be stopped entering this world 😜.
Anyways, pity party over about the whole dying thing.  Good news was, I made it... the adventure had begun. Mum got through like a champion and as for me, well, clearly I was destined for resilience from the start.

But we do probably have to address this whole Demelza Joy situation.

Most people probably look at the name Demelza and think oooooooh she must be exotic. Then reality hits - I am as Aussie bogan as they come.  Anyways, I was originally planned as Camille (😬) THANKFULLY Mum was kicking back in hospital the night before I was born, watching an episode of the hit 70's tv show 'Poldark' and there she was.  The hero of all heroes.  The boss lady that puts Foxy Cleopatra and Wonder Woman to shame... Demelza... the feisty heroine.  And so it was.. I was destined to be a bossy little ass kicker.  Sometimes I tell people Mum just pulled Scrabble letters out of a bag and thought 'this works'.

Then my middle name.  Mum's Aunty was also a bit of a boss lady, Aunty Joyce.  That solid influence of wisdom, strength and love in the family and I got the honour of bearing her name in mine - Joy.  Not just for Aunty Joyce, but because clearly it's me, I'm a natural joy machine to all those around me 😉.

So - in the only way that Os knows how, she set me up for a big life. Resilience and pushing the boundaries from the start.  I'm 12 hours old and already blessed beyond belief.