Mack's Graduation in Dunedin
Mack was born on January 12, 1987 @ 131 Somerfield Street, he was our first home birth. I had wanted to have Mike and lucy at home but Pete was reluctant, when I got pregnant with Mack he changed his mind. We had an amazing experience with the home birth community, we met some fascinating people and had a wonderful midwife, Maria. Being a midwife in 1987 was an occupation of love, they got paid very, very little and we needed to have a GP at his birth. By the time Alice was born the whole midwife and home birth movement had changed, their pay went up dramatically, possibly 300-400% and they no longer needed a GP at births.
Mack was born about 8am, Mike, lucy, Pete, Marg, our midwife Maria and a GP present. I had a short labour, I remember it being about 3 hours from start to stop. Mack was born quickly and easily. It was a wonderful experience and we were thrilled to welcome Mack into our family. He had a headful of dark hair that stood up and has done so ever since ... there is little that can be done with Mack's hair but to keep it short. Some people were concerned about Mike and lucy being present at his birth, concerned they would be traumatised by the experience, they weren't. I remember Mike looking at Mack not long after he was born and saying, " I would never do anything to hurt him Mummy." That lasted a little while.
I think I got into my stride as a Mother when Mack came along. I had had the experience of Mike and lucy. Poor Mike spent the first few weeks of his life starving because I didn't feed him properly, thank goodness for Plunket who helped to rectify the situation. I was worried about lucy being brain damaged because she slept so much and made very little noise. I would often hover over her cot checking to make sure she was breathing. We found Mack an easy and delightful baby. He was always happy, he sucked his thumb, a great way to self soothe and he was adored by his family and older siblings. He was a wonderful baby and little boy, we got so much pleasure from him and his first few years were idyllic.
He was a very active child and highly accident prone, a broken leg at about 2, a smashed cookie jar on his head, being hit between his eyes with a golf club, just some of his injuries before he turned 5. He loved to smash things, play a lot and he was always dirty. Sitting still was very, very physically hard for Mack. If he was born now he would have been diagnosed as ADD or ADHD, I just thought he was a wriggler. We learnt over time that the more he wriggled and fidgeted the more he was listening. He had a bad temper ... I made him green shorts and sweatshirt when he was about 3 years old and we have vivid memories of him in this outfit with a bright red angry face. He looked like a cute green leprechaun.
Mack had a great new entrant teacher at Somerfield Primary school. I remember a parent/teacher interview with her, she said Mack had a different style of learning from everyone else and he may take longer to learn things, but when he arrives at that point he will have learnt a lot more along the way. She was right. Mack had some reading problems at school so we decided to get him into sport, which he excelled at ... swimming, rugby, rock climbing (he was very gifted), cricket, underwater hockey (not a good spectator sport), basketball and mountain biking, to mention a few. To round his education we enrolled him in guitar lessons for a while ... it didn't really work.
Mack loves sport, he loves rugby, he is a BK man to the bone, he loves his Sunday roast and could eat a whole tray of roast potatoes, there have been many tense moments around Sunday roast when Mack was unsure there would be enough potatoes. He loves my chocolate chip cookies and chocolate self saucing pudding that he now makes himself. He is loyal to his friends and to his family. What you see is what you get with Mack ... we really like that about him. He is honest, he was a dreadful liar as a teenager. He is a hard worker, reliable and responsible. Mack is a very spiritual and faithful man. What he loves most in his life is Ite and Elizabeth. We have loved watching the gentle side of Mack come out more and more through his relationship with them. He is a very attentive and supportive husband and an adoring Father. Mack is a people person and easily makes conversation with people and has done so since he was a little boy. He is handsome and he is the tallest in our family of short men and does not have sticky out ears. We always feel like Mack has our back.
He loves cars and there have been many competitive moments between the men in our family around cars, their make and how fast they can go. Cars have been one of the ways of bonding for the men in our family. Mack owned a Toyota Corolla FXGT that he was very proud of. Pete gave him the modified engine out of his Lotus to put into his FXGT. I have vivid memories and photos of Pete, Mack and Allan Prouting doing the very delicate operation of transplanting the engine from one car to the other.
Mack is the kind of man you want when you are in a dark alley. I remember an incident a few years ago ... Mack was about 17. There were a group of teenage boys playing basketball behind our house at 29a and they were hassling us from over the fence. Pete decided to go over and try to reason with them to tone it down. We watched Pete go over and the next thing he was surrounded and these young louts were throwing basketballs at him. Mack was standing at the kitchen sink, just out of the shower and all I heard was 'right!' and of he went to get dressed and he and lucy stormed over together to rescue Pete. Mack really bore down on these guys and they got scared and ran off. I was so impressed with how quickly he and lucy went to the aid of Pete and how Mack was able to deal to them. He said very loudly ... "I know who you are. You had better watch your back" and that was enough to stop them misbehaving. I think Mack learnt how not to be intimidated from playing basketball where he was the only white boy in the team ... I used to love teasing him and would say, "but Mack, white men can't jump."
Mack served a great mission in the Singapore Mission which he financed by working night shift at the freezing works. After his mission he went down to Otago University where he got his undergraduate and post graduate qualifications in high performance sport, an area that he loves. Mack's university qualifications have been a huge achievement and a real indicator of his intellect, discipline and perseverance. He has had leadership positions at church throughout his time in Dunedin and has always done his best to fulfil his callings. This is where he met Ite the love of his life.
Mack was a wonderful boy and has grown into a fine man. He is gifted in the areas of sports performance and development and has a great career ahead of him. He is a wonderful husband and father and a man of complete integrity and authenticity. Mack has great discernment and we value his opinion and judgement. He is completely honourable and trustworthy and always puts his best effort into whatever he does. Mack has grown into a man of great character and we think that Grandma Marg would say that he is a "fine man" which was the highest praise that she would give.
He loves cars and there have been many competitive moments between the men in our family around cars, their make and how fast they can go. Cars have been one of the ways of bonding for the men in our family. Mack owned a Toyota Corolla FXGT that he was very proud of. Pete gave him the modified engine out of his Lotus to put into his FXGT. I have vivid memories and photos of Pete, Mack and Allan Prouting doing the very delicate operation of transplanting the engine from one car to the other.
Mack is the kind of man you want when you are in a dark alley. I remember an incident a few years ago ... Mack was about 17. There were a group of teenage boys playing basketball behind our house at 29a and they were hassling us from over the fence. Pete decided to go over and try to reason with them to tone it down. We watched Pete go over and the next thing he was surrounded and these young louts were throwing basketballs at him. Mack was standing at the kitchen sink, just out of the shower and all I heard was 'right!' and of he went to get dressed and he and lucy stormed over together to rescue Pete. Mack really bore down on these guys and they got scared and ran off. I was so impressed with how quickly he and lucy went to the aid of Pete and how Mack was able to deal to them. He said very loudly ... "I know who you are. You had better watch your back" and that was enough to stop them misbehaving. I think Mack learnt how not to be intimidated from playing basketball where he was the only white boy in the team ... I used to love teasing him and would say, "but Mack, white men can't jump."
Mack served a great mission in the Singapore Mission which he financed by working night shift at the freezing works. After his mission he went down to Otago University where he got his undergraduate and post graduate qualifications in high performance sport, an area that he loves. Mack's university qualifications have been a huge achievement and a real indicator of his intellect, discipline and perseverance. He has had leadership positions at church throughout his time in Dunedin and has always done his best to fulfil his callings. This is where he met Ite the love of his life.
Mack was a wonderful boy and has grown into a fine man. He is gifted in the areas of sports performance and development and has a great career ahead of him. He is a wonderful husband and father and a man of complete integrity and authenticity. Mack has great discernment and we value his opinion and judgement. He is completely honourable and trustworthy and always puts his best effort into whatever he does. Mack has grown into a man of great character and we think that Grandma Marg would say that he is a "fine man" which was the highest praise that she would give.
My four most favourite men in the whole wide world.
Mack, Ite and Elizabeth. Ite captured Mack's heart. I can't imagine him with anyone else. They are such a good match in every way.
.jpg)
Mack's little Princess ... we love this photo of Mack and Elizabeth. Ite and Elizabeth had been away for a few days and this is what Elizabeth did as soon as she saw Mack on their return home. These two are best friends.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MACK ... We have had a wonderful 28 years with you, we love you and are incredibly proud of all that you have accomplished in your life.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MACK ... We have had a wonderful 28 years with you, we love you and are incredibly proud of all that you have accomplished in your life.
No comments:
Post a Comment