Chapter 30: I AM FROM

A last chapter on growing up on Pittwater

Good morning beloved reader,

Below continues the serialization of PART TWO of the book, The Rising of the Divine Feminine and the Buddhist Monks Across the Road: A Memoir.

Of the two coming-of-age braided narratives — one being Camilla growing up in a home accessible only by water in Pittwater, Australia; the other being Jamie and Camilla young adulting in New York City 1990-1997 — this chapter offers the last reflections of growing up in Pittwater.

I also invite you to write your own “I am from” chapter. It’s a fun exercise. And I’d love to read yours too, if you’d care to share.

Please note: if you are new to this Substack, I have been periodically releasing serialized chapters of The Rising of the Divine Feminine and the Buddhist Monks Across the Road: A Memoir, which are now free for one month after publication,
after which they’re moved behind the paywall.

To read a description of the whole book, please read the bottom of the About page.
You may also visit the Table of Contents.
If you like what you’re reading and want to start from the beginning,
I urge you to buy a subscription to keep reading.

Copyright © 2023 by Camilla Sanderson
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or reprinted without the author’s written permission.

Chapter 30: I AM FROM

I AM FROM an outboard motor boat, from “the land where Vegemite comes from,” where we bailed out tin dinghies after the rain and inhaled the sweet smell of the native bushland after a downpour. 

I am from the warm and loving cedar home built by my parents, but where fighting was incessant — both my parents’ and at times, me with my three sisters.

The view from our living room out to Lovett Bay in the home my parents built on Pittwater that was only accessible by water

I am from gum trees and Eucalypts. From commuting across water, high energy, confrontation, and disowned vulnerability. From parents Jocelyn and Christopher, an older sister Penny, and two younger sisters, Stasia, and Misty.

I am from a wild outdoors childhood with an iconoclastic English father. From my father’s “keep your options open” and my mother’s “only do what you enjoy unless you have to do otherwise sometimes.”

I am from spirituality and no religion. From a quest for meaning and freedom. I’m from Pittwater in Sydney, Australia, and the parental clashing of English and Australian cultures. 

From a mother who didn’t let schooling get in the way of an education, and a father who fought this all the way, and three sisters who felt both the joy and the pain along the journey with me. 

I am from a family playing on the beach in the sun. 

Click to read chapter 31.