Where Are They Now?

As some of you know, I started off my working life as an RN. Then a wonderful opportunity saw me heading off in a very different career direction. However, at least a couple of times a month, I need to go back to my old training Hospital to attend to corporate business & I walk the same corridors I did as a 17 year old. My clients there often say that the Hospital & Millie are joined at the hip, & in many ways they are quite correct. I have a strong & enduring bond with both the building & the people in it. And sometimes, in the recesses of those long corridors, I see the fleeting shadow of a young girl who looks disarmingly like me. Uniform & starched pinafore swishing around her knees, her waist length fair hair tucked up under her white cap, noisy heels clicking furiously on the linoleum, always rushing, rushing.

Late last year I was at the Hospital seeing a client. As I was leaving his office, I heard someone say 'That's Millie, I'd know that voice anywhere!' & along the corridor toward me walked a familiar face. It was Annie, one of the girls I trained with all those years ago. Even after not seeing each other for 33 years, it was instant recognition & a fantastic moment. She was always such a delight & one of my all time favourites. Her beautiful smile used to light up any room she walked into & gosh, it still does.

After a few failed attempts, we finally managed to catch up for lunch a couple of weeks ago. We had the best time, trying to remember who was in our training group & if we still kept in touch with anyone. One of my dearest friends Robbie (3rd from left in 3rd row) was from my Group & is seen in the pic below giving me a helping hand just prior to my nuptials with MOTH. We are Godmother's to each other's children & are closer to each other than to our own sisters. Then Annie made a very big statement 'Millie, we should have a reunion, why don't you organize it!' I gulped & said 'Oh, I don't think so Annie, I hate being Carleen the Co-Ordinator on things like this, but I'm happy to be your Assistant.'

So that's it, we are on our way to getting our Group back together. We started our training in February 1973, so without labouring the point, most of the Group is now in their early-mid fifties, although I was the baby, having only just turned 17 a couple of weeks before commencement. And as I've never done anything like this before, I'd so appreciate any tips (other than the standard Friends Reunited, My Space etc.) you can pass on re tracking everyone down. We know we can't just rely on the old Bush Telegraph. Oh & if you must know that's me 6th from left in the front row in our Graduation photo. It's hard to believe that at 19 I was already wearing an engagement ring & was about to get married to That Other Husband!