It’s been nearly four years since I first met my friend Chris. The first thing I noticed about Chris is that he is a tall man, well over six feet. 

Then I was introduced, and my first impression was that he was a quiet, gentle person with a great sense of humour. In a conversation, Chris will frequently identify the nub of the discussion and may either make a humorous comment or give an insightful view on the topic. 

Chris lives in an Identitywa group home in Palmyra with four other people who are also members of our Palmyra PAS group. There are two other friends in our group, and over the four years we’ve all grown very close together. The five people from the group home have mostly learnt to leave their home issues at home and the relationships in the group are related to the different PAS environment. Music and painting are passions in Chris’ life. 

He likes many styles of music but is most drawn to classical. The house supervisor has commented that when it comes to active cleaning chores in the home, modern lively tunes are preferred to his gentle classical music. Chris and I have attended a couple of public concerts, one of swing era music and the other of classical. 

Chris is vision impaired and at the swing outdoor concert he took the opportunity to get quite close to the band to get a good look at the instrumental performers. Similarly, at the classical performance we had seats near the front, so we had a good view of the instrumentalists. Chris very often can’t help himself but keep the beat of the music with his hands or foot tapping. Perhaps in future we may be able to attend performances at the Concert Hall. Chris had been selling the Big Issue paper at the South Fremantle shopping centre and was always aware of when an exciting sports car came in. He loved seeing a Ferrari, a Lamborghini or a Lotus and would always tell us about it during agape at group. 

One of his most exciting events was when our group leader, Teresa, had a personal contact at Barbagallo Motors and took Chris for a ride in the latest model Ferrari. They then had Chris choose colours, upholstery and features as if he was ordering his own personalised Ferrari. He came away with a great memory and a Ferrari cap. A trip to Albany on the sail training ship Leeuwin and another voyage on a liner around the southern WA coast with his mother have been other highlights in the last few years. What he would like to experience in the future is fishing and a camping expedition. 

We tend to arrive at group meetings a little earlier than the other friends and Chris hurries to select his favoured chores – usually setting the agape tables and clearing off the tables after the meal. He occasionally puts his name down for washing up without prompting. Chris makes sure that he carries his load of chores without murmur or reluctance. What I have learnt from Chris over these four years is to have patience with other people and not rise to provocation, to take delight in the small things in life, to grasp opportunities as they come by, to ensure I do my share of common duties, to dream of new experiences, to accept things I cannot change and to have the wisdom to know the difference. Thank you Chris. 

Ray.