FAMILY MEMBERS 4 and 5...TWO NIECES

I spoke in length about my adopted brother Len and his wife Jean.  Apart from mum and dad they were the only family I knew although mum did have a father and a married sister in England but of course I never met them and only knew of them through letters they wrote to mum.

Finally my family grew.....after several years of hoping for a family Jean found she was expecting their first child and this caused great excitement as they had almost given up hope and had actually begun to make arrangements to adopt a baby.

My first niece, Penelope (known always as Penny) was born in 1948 when I was 16 and although it is difficult to believe, it was the first time in my life I had had anything to do with a baby or even a very young child.  She was a bonnie baby with blond curls and much loved by both families.

My second niece, Wendy was born in 1950.  She was also a bonnie baby but she tended to have straighter hair but to me they were both gorgeous.  I always enjoyed being allowed to have a cuddle of both of them when they were tiny.

In unfortunately missed both their christenings.  When Penny was christened I was ill in bed and at the time of Wendy's christening I was away on a working holiday in Melbourne.

Our family lived only a few streets away from them in North Perth so I would quite often call in to their home on my way home from work.  I used to walk from Perth to North Perth most nights as I always enjoyed walking.

Eventually they moved to a more distant suburb so we saw less of them but Wendy when she was about 13-14 used to come and stay with us on weekends and during school holidays so we got to know her better than we did Penny.

In her late teens Penny went to the eastern states to work so we saw even less of her.

We did attend both their weddings and they were really special.  Penny at her wedding breakfast had pipers playing (her maternal grandmother was a Scotswoman) but strangely enough Wendy, who had her wedding breakfast in the beautiful back garden of her parents' home, did not have pipers although she actually did marry a Scot.

After the girls married and grew up we only saw them very occasionally which I felt rather sad about but that's the way life goes.  They both had two children each (a pigeon pair in each case) and now have grandchildren of their own of whom they are very proud.

Wendy was sadly widowed in June, 2009 but she is still enjoying her life and has her sister, her family and lots of friends.  Penny and her husband live in a semi-rural area and carry on an import business and seem content with their life.

I have included Penny and Wendy in my family as they were quite a big part of my life when I was a teenager and into my 20s and 30s.