Two years ago today (December 21) Mum and I were in Sydney for the first inquest for Ursula, where the coroner officially gave her name back.
Coincidentally (or not) my new book about Ursula was sitting in the email inbox of a literary agent when she got to work this morning, waiting for her to open its pages and decide if she wants to help me share my words for Ursula with the world.
For the past 10 days Ursula has been pushing me to finish this book which started as a personal diary in 2013 to keep track of everything that was happening behind the scenes after I published Write About Me and got fresh eyes on her case.
In amongst pre-Christmas deadlines and at a time when life couldn’t get any crazier, I’ve just finished another 53,000 words for her. This is her way – bold, adventurous and always up for a challenge. “Here for a good time, not a long time” was one of her favourite sayings. If only we knew.
I am sharing a very personal photo with this post. This is at Tarcutta, on the Hume Highway, where I pulled up to visit the site of Ursula’s accident.
I stepped out of the car and this greeted me. Yellow, her favourite colour and a can of Coke – the ‘cool’ drink of the 80s. The colours, the nearby creek lined by large eucalypts, thistles, long wavy grass – it was a scene right out of the picture book of our childhood.
Ursula, Ursula, Ursula. Always loved, never forgotten 