I loveyou so incrediblymuch.
Shanthi
HodaGolestani’sTop tenGreg
Parkermoments (in reverseorder)
In the last few years we’ve kept each other
company in times of health and in times of
not feeling so great, watchingHarry Potter
when we’re both feeling blergh (and also
that totally special new Years eve when I
was home alone with sleeping kids while
everyone else partied, and you and Aunty
Mal came to spend it with me watching
Les Mis), doing crosswords and puzzles
and saying prayers... but the highlight has
definitely got to be going on our Lord of
theRingspilgrimage together!!!Who’dhave
thunk thatwouldeverhavebeenpossible???
(apart from aunty mal who apparently
makes impossible things possible). We had
out matching Middle Earth railway line
shirts, you evenhad awalking stick andwe
journeyed toHobbiton!!!!
All inall, you (andof course theMagnificent
Malindriel) have been rolemodels forHods
and I when we finally started our own life
together. One of the things I love themost
about you is that being a “grown up” is no
hindrance to your enjoyment of life and all
things trivial, childlike or seemingly crazy
(like when you guys drove to Carnarvon
fromAlbany foradayandahalftogocomet-
gazing!!!!).
And since then, ithasbeenablessing tobea
partofyour life.Ourshared loveofall things
Tolkien,ofWestWing,LesMiserables,Harry
Potter,Geek-ery ingeneral.WeLITERALLY
wentThereandBackAgain!!!
10. The Eagles/East Perth WAFL alignment,
whichmeans I can actually take an interest in
yourbelovedRoyals!!!
9. Doing my audition for the choir, which
lastedabout 10 seconds.
8. You singing “WeAreTheWorld” at theUN
daycelebrationswiththechoir…awesome80’s
cheese.
7. Convincing you to try a goatee for the first
timeona teaching trip toAlbany. I’mproud to
sayyoukept it foranumberof yearsafter that.
6. Singingwithyou.
5.When you andMalmanaged the 4th intake
of theCollis FeatherstoneTeaching project in
January 1996. Theperfect people tobewith to
avoid thepost-youth-year-of-serviceblues.
4. “HodgadiddleWodgadiddle”
3. Shaving your beard off to raise money for
the fund. Youwere willing to do it for $50 to
the fund provided that Mal was ok with it.
Mal reluctantly said ok but upped it to $100.
We raised themoney in about 2minutes. You
looked ridiculous.
2. The night we went star, planet and comet
gazing outside of Carnarvon. What a night!
Finding that spot was an adventure in itself,
when Dave, you and I went on a scouting
expeditionandnearlygotverybadly lost in the
middle of the desert. Itwas all worth it in the
end.
1.When I was doing service inKiribati, living
in slum like conditions, totally homesick and
alone. Thenhearing yours andMalini’s voices
in beautiful harmonies playing somewhere in
the distance. I followed the sound to find a
Baha’i who had a cassette of “Journeys End”
andwas playing it. Maybe thatwill be one of
your legacies… That you will leave beautiful
music for theworld thatwill touchpeoplewho
hear it long after you’re gone… the same way
it did for a lonely kid on a little island in the
middleof thePacificOcean.
Hoda
