Following is an entry in the NSM ‘You Deserve to Indulge’ Mother’s Day Competition. Here, Debora Feijo of Castlecrag tells us all about her fabulous friend Kate Hooke from Northbridge.
I only came to get to know Kate better last year when our relationship (through the kids’ sports and class activities) became more frequent. Not only is Kate an amazing woman as a human being, she is also loving, caring, intelligent, dedicate, patient, elegant, organised, professional … and the list goes on. She’s one of those woman who leads you to often ask: ‘How does she do it?’.
I was particularly touched by Kate’s history when I discovered that she has a rare lung condition and needs to have a special massage every day of her life (usually in the mornings) to be sure her lungs will survive for another 24 hours. And I was touched when she shared her early working years – she was a social worker, dealing with disabled children. The histories she shares with me truly are way emotional.
Now a stay-at-home mum (definitely a loss to the working force of women), Kate dedicates her days to their recently adopted four-year-old son, making sure she, her husband and her older eight-year-old son offers him a loving and caring new home. But what strikes me the most about Kate is her loving nature, patience and her vision of life.
Nothing is too much stress for Kate, or enough to make her lose her temper and shout at the kids. And it is never too much trouble to help out a friend with a lift, or to look after another mum’s children. She stands by all her challenges with grace, politeness and a positive outlook, even when faced with the most difficult situations. She volunteers at school, does charity work, is involved with the community, bakes cupcakes, cooks amazing healthy meals, knits, is fantastic with craft, and so on… All of this while still doing some social work.
It is Kate’s modesty at all these achievements that blows me away. You will never see Kate gloating about her last achievements, or showing off her last amazing holidays, or how good her kids are at achieving, or how difficult and complex it is to adopt a child. In fact, quiet the opposite. Kate is the one offering to help, always giving a loving word to an upset friend, providing good and from-the-heart advice, or coming up with a practical solution for someone’s problems.
Kate is not a famous or very successful professional (like many women I know of). She does not have a ‘team’ of professionals behind her to guarantee she looks amazing (even without any make-up), or to help her achieve so much in her day. She does ALL of that behind the curtains, quietly and graciously, her acts going unnoticed to most people. I have never met someone like Kate and she certainly gets my vote for being one of the most fabulous North Shore mums I know!
The fabulous Kate Hooke.
