Hello my name is Sonya Monty
My Story
Born second of four sisters at Ashgrove private hospital, Brisbane, which as with John’s experience, no longer exists as a hospital. In fact, family stories have led me to believe that my youngest sister was the last birth in the maternity section before it closed its doors to any further patients. Perhaps the old adage of not having too much of a good thing applies? Or is it, enough is enough? My father's teasing sense of humour resounds to this day.
My primary years were spent living in North Brisbane during school terms and usually on my grandfather's farms during holidays, although on occasion, my father's love of the water did lead us to vacation "overseas" and memories of his forays into water skiing, and the era’s obligatory "sunburnt and sand coated" car trips, are warm memories. “Overseas” of course meant a day trip to Bribie Island for us simple folk. I was the kid who was leaning against the car door blissfully reading, daydreaming, or singing at the top of my lungs to the songs that we had on our cassette recorder, much to the angst of my older sister who hated my vocal tones. Life with three sisters was for the most part lots of fun and adventure packed (squabbles aside), particularly when other families would join us at the farm. We of course, as avid readers of Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Secret Seven novels, formed an Adventure Farm Kids Club or "AFKC" with visiting friends and spent whole days living out our adventures, rescuing baby hares (Leverets) from the cane farm fires and monitoring fledgling swallows in the mud nests around the old dairy buildings from our rooftop vantage points. Clambering over roofs, jumping from old tank stands, and riding our ponies, were common playground activities for four very active girls and the other kids who joined us. Life was certainly simpler back then.
Teenage years were for me somewhat turbulent, as changes in our living circumstances due to my parent's separation, meant we moved to Maleny full time. Maleny is, for those unaware of its beguiling beauty, a small country town set in the hinterlands of the Sunshine Coast Queensland, Australia. It was for me, a dream location, as my heart is drawn to quieter locales (as much as I have enjoyed city and coastal life also). Taking on a new school, new friends, and new routines taught me resilience and flexibility as I negotiated finding my place as a teenager. Thankfully the years of horse-riding, motor-bikes, creek swimming, visits to Kings and other coastal beaches, and art and craft pastimes, helped to ground me, while we lived through the tragic loss of my maternal Grandpa to MND when I was sixteen, and then the sudden loss of my paternal Grandma when I was seventeen. Life has a way of balancing the sad with the happy and even though the years were turbulent I maintain that they were pretty awesome times for a young person. My sisters feel that I'm a bit teflon-coated when it comes to holding onto bad memories. I'm personally glad that I'm like that.
Moving back to the big smoke, Brisbane, to do tertiary training I began a career as a high school educator and as a first time teacher, was posted to the small cane-farming community of Babinda for a few years. Fond memories of exploring the northern parts of our beautiful state are still very dear to me, particularly the river, lakes, and cave adventures. I was thankfully able to indulge my passion of English teaching in my first teaching post, but this was cut short through having to move back south for family health reasons.
Upon returning to the Sunshine Coast there were some more tumultuous times for me as I found my way in my faith. Once restored to my true north pole, my life became more focused and I met the love of my life John in 1986, and we married in 1989. It’s been close to forty wonderful years that we have walked alongside each other through the raising of four amazing (now adult) children, and we now have the honour and pleasure of seeing our grandchildren growing up, a daily delight for both of us.
My education career took a back seat during the years that we raised our children, but work wise I was still extended to the max. I retrained in software engineering and joined John in running a business from home, while also being highly active in our faith community.
Once our children were all in school, I again ventured into education and then having to make a change in pathways for personal health reasons I chose to study further both in creative writing and to do my master’s in counselling. I am still working full-time in counselling as a trauma informed therapist, alongside writing both my blogs and my novel in progress “Whisked Away”.