Andrea Drew

Andrea Drew was my married name. I am proud that I stuck it out for 22 years, ending in Feb 2020. Soon I will be Andrea Steele courtesy of a pending legal name change.

"Andrea Steele, she's the real deal and strong as steel. Strong as kevlar in fact." (not really sure about Andrea Kevlar though.)

How's this for a story?

Steele is my great grandmothers name. For we are stronger than Steele, and the real deal. In the 70s in the UK Elizabeth Steele in her eighties said "I am descended from a line of bravehearts, the McPherson Clan. We fiercely guard the heart of the Scottish highlands and still do. Family folklore has it we may have been Vikings before that."

"Wow were you Grandma?"

"Yes, and looking at you, you might be the same. Don't need to be a doctor to see that do I?"

"No Grandma" said the nine year old tall blonde blue eyed Andrea.

"I fear, just like many years ago, my son may turn on me and put me away in a nursing home. It will be the end of me."

"Surely not grandma?" says the pretty fiercely determined single minded smart amazing girl.

"You are young. You don't remember the uprising. It meant friend against friend, family against family. Accusations, treachery and lies, so dangerous they stick, and no one listens. People become outcasts. So remember friends can be enemies and enemies can be friends."

"How do people sort things out Grandma?"

"By pushing through."

"Through what?"

"Through good and evil, depending on what proportion."

"Then one day someone will bring that evil to me and I sort it out" What a fiece courageous sometimes foolhardy girl but also intelligent.

"Be careful what you wish for." says my wise Grandma. "You may lose everyone you ever held dear."

"Then if I do, they were never mine to begin with, for a person cannot be contained. If they don't see me, they can see whatever they like. "

"Don't be too foolhardy girl."

"I will go loud about some things, see how they react and then go quiet about important things. That's the best method."

"Then you are a true braveheart. Let's see where we all get to shall we?"

"Grandma don't worry if your son turns on you, the truth will catch up with him eventually it always does. It's like my Mum says. eventually they dig a big hole for themselves and jump right in it. People and spirits like us, we don't actually die do we, we kiss the sky..."

Cue Elizabeth Steele playing a set of miniature bagpipes and me dancing a spontaneous scottish jig in front of the fire :-) A perfect send off and the very best way to say "Until next time"

***

I've been writing, reading and listening to stories since I was a young child, as have many of us bravehearts.

I raised three adult children and lived in Victoria for decades. I now live in the paradise that is country NSW. I'll soon start university studies in Business and then Law. My dream since I was a girl.

Here's some interesting lyrics from my ancestors. Why? Well, those that I truly loved and backed I may never meet again on those banks of Loch Lomond. They take the high road and I take the low road.

At some point, my story tentatively called "The road less travelled, I'll take the low road" may be published. Until then, I defer to this great poet Andrew Lang.

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes

Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond

Where me and my true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond

O you take the high road, and I'll take the low road

And I'll be in Scotland afore ye

But me and my true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond

'Twas there that we parted, in yon shady glen

On the steep, steep side of Ben Lomond

Where in soft purple hue, the hieland hills we view

And the moon coming out in the gloaming

O you take the high road, and I'll take the low road

And I'll be in Scotland afore ye

But me and my true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond

The wee bird sing and the wildflowers spring

And in sunshine the waters are sleeping

But the broken heart it kens, nae second spring again

Though the woeful may cease from their grieving

O you take the high road, and I'll take the low road

And I'll be in Scotland afore ye

But me and my true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond

There's an ending o' the dance, and fair Morag's safe in France,

And the Clans they hae paid the lawing,

Morag—great one in Gaelic—referred to Bonnie Prince Charlie, who fled to France after his forces were defeated.[9] Lawing means reckoning in Scots. The poem continues:

And the wuddy has her ain, and we twa are left alane,

Free o' Carlisle gaol in the dawing.

Wuddy means hangman's rope, according to Lang's own notes on the poem; dawing is dawn.[10] The poem continues with the song's well-known chorus, then explains why the narrator and his true love will never meet again:

For my love's heart brake in twa, when she kenned the Cause's fa',

And she sleeps where there's never nane shall waken

The poem's narrator vows to take violent revenge on the English:

While there's heather on the hill shall my vengeance ne'er be still,

While a bush hides the glint o' a gun, lad;

Wi' the men o' Sergeant Môr shall I work to pay the score,

Till I wither on the wuddy in the sun, lad!

"Sergeant Môr" is John Du Cameron, a supporter of Bonnie Prince Charlie who continued fighting as an outlaw until he was hanged in 1753.[10]