I am who I am partly because of this large tree I belong to. The attributes that I have been born with have been passed down from courageous, calm and confident people. Add to that generosity and a adventurous spirit and you will get a picture of my forebears. My ancestry involves a mix of German, Scottish and English. The German part is where our name Grosser came from. A south Australian family who settled in the South East and married English women. My maternal side were very much English immigrants who settled in the Diamond Creek area outside Melbourne. The cemetery there is evidence of the fact that most of them lived and died there including my grandparents.

My life has been lived in a diversity of locations and there have been many benefits in that, in that I have experienced Australia from a wide perspective. I have also lived in the surrounding cultures of NZ PNG and Fiji so perhaps I could be regarded as Pacific more than Australian. I fully appreciate the gift that has been both to me and to my children. To be a child of the world you need to have experienced the world from different vantage points.

Now that I have grandchildren my life has taken on a newer meaning. . I have a feeling of having arrived at a peaceful place. I have achieved a large percentage of life's milestones. I have wonderful children who are all successful at life and it is evident that as their turn at being parents arrive they are doing an excellent job. My role now is to applaud and encourage and to reap the rewards of a colourful life.