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Author Kate Halfpenny marks her 60th birthday by tracing her life through a beloved Moran modular sofa, from 1970s Tasmania to beach-house beatings, and the small moments that define her.
Kate Halfpenny turns 60 next week. The author and founder of Bad Mother Media has been thinking about the milestone partly because people expect her to.
Kate Halfpenny Reflects On 60th Birthday Milestone
Sixty has heft, she writes. But when she looks backwards, her life does not present itself as a meaningful highlights reel. It comes in tiny flickers instead. The story of her life is tangled up with a Moran modular sofa.
Some time in the late 1970s, it was unboxed at her family home in Tasmania. It was avocado velvet, the height of glamour and a big deal. The pieces were cubes that pulled apart and could be reconfigured into a bed for overnight guests. Dad and Kate sat on it every week to watch Dallas.
Sometimes she sat on the floor while he brushed her hair. They laughed about Lucy Ewing, who he really took against. The Moran stayed. In the 1990s, Mum and Dad had it reupholstered in a sort of chintz.
When they finally bought a new couch, the Moran went to her brother's kids' playroom, where it was hammered. Play-Doh was smushed into it. Slime was made on it. Children used it as a jungle gym.
Moran Sofa Reupholstered In Gold Velvet
Every time she visited, Kate coveted that modular. Eventually, she told her brother, who swapped it no questions asked for a Freedom sofa bed. The Moran was packed off to a Mornington upholsterer called Gerry. He rang in awe: This is a unicorn.
They had it redone in gold velvet. For months, Kate hovered over its scary perfection. When one of her daughter's friends got mascara on a seat cushion, it was the end of days. Now the sofa lives at the beach.
Wet dogs loll on it. People with sandy bottoms and red wine glasses sit on it. Kate lies on it reading and wipes Toblerone fingers on the velvet. It is nearly as old as she is and has had several serious reinventions, some more successful than others.
It is not precious any more. It is just really good. Tougher than it looks. Turning 60 has prompted Kate to look back.
Recalling Past Lessons From Bracelets To Driving
She recalls the gold bracelet watch Mum gave her for her 13th birthday, which looked like something from Bruce & Walsh. She remembers being on at a Torquay New Year's Eve disco at 17 and wanting something to happen. She recalls driving alone for the first time in a '67 Corona so idiosyncratic you could see the road through the gear stick. Meeting her first baby.
Learning things: to type, roast a chook, breastfeed, dress. This year Dad taught her how to divide orchids. They all flowered like mad. Nearly 30 years ago she learnt she was allergic to fake tan.
This week she forgot, and now she is heading to Bali for her 60th with welts on her face. She also found inspiration in Ryan Papenhuyzen, who said something this week about walking away from rugby league and its millions at 28. Just because you are good at it does not mean you need to do it. Find something that aligns more to how you want to live your life.
Imagine knowing that at 28. At 60, Kate is beginning to. There have been hard things. She spent a long time trusting nobody but herself.
Life Lessons From Losses And Marriages
Precious people have died. Hearts and bodies turn out not to be entirely reliable. Neither do marriages, plans or fake tan. There have also been two gorgeous husbands, three children she would run into the fires of hell for, sisters, friends, work, dogs, the sea.
And, extraordinarily, both her parents. Yesterday they met her at the bookshop where she works, after her shift. They had flourless orange cake for afternoon tea.
Next week she will wake at a resort and be a senior, with her husband, brother, kids and their partners at the breakfast buffet. Her first thoughts will be of Mum and Dad. She does not know if the best is yet to come. That seems an unreasonable demand to make of the future.
Some of the best may already have happened: first love. Cheese and wine in Rome in 1988. A City2Surf. Writing a book.
But something pretty good surely is. And like the Moran, Kate has turned out to have decent bones. Gratitude has always made her leery. It sounds like something Meghan would write in cursive on a $39 candle.
Kate Halfpenny is an author and the founder of Bad Mother Media.
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brisbanetimes:This story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
Turning 60 Moran Sofa Reinvention Life Reflection
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