As we sit down for dinner there are introductions. I miss her surname, but get Rhonda, with some fleeting, residual name tickling my memory . But as often happens at first meetings, surnames evaporate. She is a delightfully engaging individual, sitting across the table: laughter, and a little historical banter establishes that we have both lived in Ararat in the recent past.
It is at the next week’s dinner that I finally catch her surname: Vitinski, Rhonda Vitinski. Bells are ringing louder now. Vitinski; Vitinski, but again, as the evening gets underway, I let the bells quieten, something to pursue at home, later on.
As it happens, Rhonda leaves town the following weekend, to join a 10-day Broome to Darwin cruise. I have time to start examining my memories. I am sure Mum used to talk about her best mate, a girl she trained with in Adelaide, who was her bridesmaid and who married some chap named Vitinski. Probably just one of life’s little coincidences: but that is an unusual surname!
I have memories of sitting in the kitchen, Mum reminiscing about her times nursing at the Repat. I can’t remember her first name, but that unusual surname Vitinski; it was often included in her stories.
I ring my sister to see if her memory holds that unusual name. She came up trumps and reckons there is a photo in her album, of Mum and her nursing mate. Oh yes, I remember the pic, I have it too, taken outside the Ru Rua private hospital, in North Adelaide; both in uniform, capes and veils. My enthusiasm quickens as I sense Rhonda and I are on the same train, albeit tracking back seventy years or so. If only I could ask Mum!
I get the step ladder and take down the albums. I settle my growing excitement with a cuppa, then sit in the lounge to pursue this possible coincidence.
There’s that pic of the girls. Both looked gorgeous, laughter creasing their faces, eyes twinkling. And here’s another; Dad, bare-chested, smiling into the camera, leaning over the bonnet of an old Morrie – he loved those cars. There are others taken in Alice Springs – his 1944 wartime posting. There’s an army-uniformed bloke in another Central Australian pic. The tag identifies him as Ferko Vitinski.
I flick the page. Christmas 1945 and there’s a foursome, Mum, Dad, Ferko and the girl from the earlier photos, finally with a name – Annalise. That’s it, that’s who Mum used to talk about!
I’m busting to talk to Rhonda. I have a mobile number. I ring, and then blurt, “Was your father-in-law’s name Ferko?” There’s a moment’s hesitation, then “Jees; how’d you know that?”
“Can’t say too much. But let’s catch up when you get back!”
We find the same pics in each of our old albums. Each couple in the formal wedding photos of the other – Groom and Bridesmaid for each other!
What are the odds, eh? A chance introduction. Circles reconnecting in 2024 Ballarat!