Anita Johnson (Smith) - the last 40 years

Where are you now? Town, State, Country *

Ulverstone

Occupation/s? Tell us what you have been doing

Don College (21 years) NWRH - Burnie Hospital (1year)

What would you tell your 1977 self if you could send them a message now?

Learn to listen and listen to learn, attend school every day, enjoy the experience and appreciate the people who have taken the time to help and guide you through the journey of life.

What would you like to share about the last 40 years?

I will start by saying that life has been kind to me, I have been married for 32 years to Paul, have two kind and beautiful sons, Kallan (30) and Bentley (28). On leaving school I worked at Coles for 10 years, got married and had my children. In 1990 my husband and I purchased the North Motton store, a small convenience store, post office and petrol station which we ran for 7 years. In 1997 my husband and I purchased a local milk run which covered the Ulverstone area for the next 7 years. During this time I have been employed at the Don College working with year 11 and 12 students as a disability support worker for ten years and a support worker for students at risk for 11 years, a job I love every day. On a casual basis I work at the Burnie hospital as an attendant enjoying my time in the areas of Dementia and palliative care, challenging but rewarding. We travelled around Australia in 2006 - 2007 for 14 months, covering a lot of Australia and hope to continue our travels in the not to distant future. We are off to Bali this year, our youngest son is getting married, no grandchildren as yet but I imagine that will be the next exciting and blissful part of our families journey together. I'm looking forward to the 40 year reunion, to catch up with those I have not seen since school, those I have not seen for a while and to remember those that have passed.

What are you proudest of about your life? What have been your greatest achievements?

Greatest achievement are my two sons, a caring husband and to acknowledge that I was able to achieve many things in life with hard work, resilience and commitment.

Any regrets?

Not taking opportunities ( learning, friendships and support) offered to me to through the four years of high school