In the mail

Anyone who knows Aaron well, knew that he loved to order things online.  At least once a week there would be something arriving in the mail - usually something to do with sports - cards, DVDs, t-shirts, magazines or books.  He loved to read autobiographies of sports players or musicians.  Most days I would get a phone call, text message or email from him asking if there was any mail. Often I would reply 'nothing that would interest you' (if it were a bill) but if it was ever something he was waiting for, he couldn't wait to get home to open it. 

Just a couple of days after Aaron passed away, a book and DVD arrived that he had been waiting for.  He was so excited about it and had hoped it was going to arrive before we went to St Helens so he would have some holiday reading.   He even chased down the mail man the day we left for our holiday, to see if he had it.

I was having a 'good' day today, until I got home after picking the boys up from school,  and checked the mail.  There was a package addressed to Aaron and I was surpised that it has taken seven weeks for this to arrive.   As soon as I saw the package I remembered what he had ordered.  He was really looking forward to it coming.

I was fine until I turned it over and saw the back (the player's name is Joakim Noah).  I knew it was going to be on the back, but just seeing it started the tears streaming.  Harri looked at me and said 'are you sad about Daddy, Mum?  It's okay Mummy, I'm here', as he tried to comfort me. 

There was mail today honey - although I'm sure you know that.  Tell Noah that I'll wear it with pride for him :)

Noah's Growing Garden

This morning when I dropped Harri off at school the Principal asked me if I had seen the arch over Noah's garden. I hadn't seen it yet, but it looked so beautiful.  It had been added as an addition to Noah's memorial garden to remember Aaron, and she said it represented Aaron watching over Noah, which was so beautiful.  The awesome groundsman Mr B had made it and did a fantastic job.

They have planted some jasmine so it will grow over it which will look amazing. It really is such a beautiful feature in the school, and it makes me so happy to know that Noah (and Aaron) meant so much to them, and they will never be forgotten.


I spent some time taking photos at the school today for a new website that they will be making, and when I went into Jay's old classroom I loved seeing that the kids had done some artwork on Noah's garden, and was displayed on the wall.

It is looking so beautiful, and it's so nice to see it changing as it grows. I'm sure Aaron and Noah would be smiling down as they see how beautiful it is.  The shock of Aaron passing away has worn off now, but it's still hard to believe that he's gone.  I look at this photo of him planting out Noah's memorial garden, and can't believe that there is now something in the garden to remember and represent him.

Backyard Blitz - part 1

We have been so blessed to have so many amazing people help us in the last 5 weeks.  We've been blown away by the fundraising that has taken place, and so many lovely things that people have been doing for us (even saying 'we' seems strange as I don't know who I'm talking about anymore - I guess 'we' means me and my boys, and I don't want to say 'I' because that makes it more real that Aaron isn't here anymore). 

A couple of days after Aaron's funeral, his cousin Tracey and her daughter Jessi-Rose called in to drop off some yummy brownies they had made.  Aaron taught Jessi-Rose at school a few years back.  I actually wasn't home when they called in, but they saw that our house and yard obviously wasn't finished.  

They came back a few days later with some very exciting news.  They decided to approach a professional landscaper (Patrick Graham) and told him about our situation and he agreed along with the Landscapers Association of Tasmania, to do a 'backyard blitz' on our whole yard - front and back!

The entire 'backyard blitz' is actually happening in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime there have been lots of other jobs to do around the yard and house to get prepared for it to happen.

One of the main things was we needed a plumber and I have been so lucky to have Grant Chugg Plumbing agree to do the rest of the plumbing to get the outside ready for the landscaping.

A big job that needed to be done before the landscapers come in, is getting all the concrete paths done.  While Chrish was down he helped my brothers Eden and Jared box up the paths for the concrete.  The boys were having a great laugh about Aaron's raised veggie boxes not being square.  Aaron was so proud of his veggie boxes, until he knew my brothers (who are builders) were coming around for a BBQ and he then knew he was going to get stirred for them not being quite straight.  I'm sure he was up there watching them having a laugh about it, and was laughing himself as they all loved to stir each other.

I would've loved my front entrance to be done while Noah was still alive as it was such a pain to get him in and out of the house in the wheelchair, especially as the driveway wasn't done for a long time.  It's so nice to finally be getting it done.


A few weeks ago Jared and Eden came and did some other jobs inside that needed to be finished.

It's so nice to finally have our bathroom totally finished.



Last Saturday was very exciting as the footpaths, front entrance and a slab out the side was poured.  Tracey had her family come along to help, and Jessi-Rose's boyfriend Jorden is a concreter which was awesome, as he came along to help do the prep work before the concrete was poured and stayed all day and helped out with the concreting.  He did a great job.


Tracey and Jessi-Rose had approached a few companies to see if they could donate the concrete and Hazel Brothers agreed, which was amazing as concrete isn't cheap.  I feel so blessed and lucky that people are showing us so much love and support right now. 

Eden asked a few of our friends to come and help out on Saturday if they were free, and it was so nice to have them all come so early to help out. I felt bad that I was stealing them away on a Saturday morning, but I think everyone enjoyed being together, despite the hard work.  Because we had so many helpers the work got done so quickly.





To get ready for the landscaping to happen in a couple of weeks, there has to be a lot of plumbing work done outside first.  This means digging a trench right down the side of the house.  I felt bad for the guys who dug most of the day, but they did an amazing job.

They also started getting the back ready for the retaining wall to go in.   There was a lot of jokes about footy and how they could say whatever they wanted about it since Aaron wasn't around.  It's nice to know that everyone knows that it's okay to have a joke (especially at Aaron's expense!) as that's what Aaron would want. 

It's so nice to finally be getting the work done around the house and yard, and I'm excited to have the yard done in a couple of weeks. I can't even imagine what it will look like, after living in an unfinished house for over 16 months.

I feel so blessed and grateful to be able to have it done, but so sad at the same time that Aaron isn't here to enjoy it as well.

Uncle Chrish

My brother Christian (affectionately known as 'Chrish' or 'Uncle Chrish) was pretty much Aaron's best friend. Even though he lives in Sydney, we would see him at least 3-4 times a year, whether it was him coming down to stay here,  or us going up to stay with him in Sydney.

Often Chrish would ring us up, but not to talk to me. It was always to chat to Aaron about the sports results (of whatever sport was on at the time!).

As awful as it was that Aaron passed away when Chrish was down on his latest holiday, I'm just so glad that he was here with us. I'm sure it would've been so much harder for him to be in Sydney when it happened. He was also with us when Noah passed away, and stayed in the room as we all said goodbye to him.

Chrish actually came down before we went away on our family holiday to St Helens, so it was nice that he had spent some time with Aaron and the boys over the weekend, as I was away taking photos at a wedding.  They had a fun day playing mini golf together and just hanging out.  Chrish shared some of his feelings about the last days with Aaron on his own blog.  Be prepared to have tissues if you read it :)

After Aaron passed away, Mum stayed with us for a couple of week, and Chrish extended his trip and helped me out with anything I needed, especially helping with the boys. The boys loved having him here, and it was nice for them to have some fun with him, despite how sad and shocked they were that Aaron had passed away.  It was a nice distraction for them.








Poor Chrish was worn out by the King boys!  I'm sure he was glad to finally get back to Sydney to have a rest! ;)

We've had a few chats and of course we would love him to move back to Tassie, but really want him to move down for himself and not just for us.  We would love to have him around all the time, but I told him that even though the boys would love it, it won't fix things.  I really just want him to move when he's ready - when he has found a job, sold his house and is ready to move. 

So if anyone knows of some good jobs going in Tassie let us know. He is a courier with Star Track Express in Sydney, so he drives trucks all around the city every day.  

In the meantime enjoy the peace and quiet Chrish, because if you moved back home to Tassie there wouldn't be much time to have nanna naps on the couch, with all your nieces and nephews jumping all over you, wanting you to play all the time. 

King for a Day

During the week I heard that Kings Meadows High School was holding 'King for a Day'. 

I was so touched that they would want to do that for us, and loved that they called it 'King for a Day'.

Every day or two I check out Aaron's Facebook wall and love reading all the beautiful things that students have written to him.  The night before 'King for a Day' there were lots of messages from students. 

This was from one of the prefects:

"Tomorrow at kings meadows is king for a day.
The prefects decided we wanted to do something in honor of you and to help out your family.
We decided because of your love for sport to make it so people can wear any sports clothing and just donate a gold coin. All money raised is going towards your family.
The prefects used a whole bucked of the big chalk sticks today to write 'king for a day' all ar...ound the school everywhere. On walls, pavements even the road ! It's all for you and your family kingy.
We miss you soo much and hope you will be watching down on us tomorrow. Ive even heard that some past students will be wearing their sports colours! And some are coming to the school to donate!! You definantly had a great effect on us and we love you dearly.
I will be wearing my hawks gear as you would expect and I'm pretty sure a lot of others
will be too!
Missing you so much."

One of teachers who is one of Aaron's best friends at school, took photos for me.   It's so cool seeing the kids in their sports gear, and knowing that they did it all for Aaron.

These are more messages from students on Aaron's FB wall :
"kingy :( school isnt the same without you, i miss seeing your smile while walking around the school and having a joke about my brothers perfect hair or arguing about collingwood not being gay. :P
todays a day for you kingy. and i hope your looking down on all of us proud, but sorry i had to wear my collingwood colours. love you kingy, miss you ♥"

"Fair too say I miss you Kingy!

Still can't quite believe youu aren't gonnaa walk into my home room and tease me about Dannielle, or be there too encourage me at the athletics carnival. :(

Tomorrow, 'King for a day'.

I'm getting suited up, head to toe in race gear, I don't know if you're into racing, but it's happening for youu. ♥♥

I know you're sitting up there with Noah, watching Hawthorn win old premierships and playing around, and in a way, knowing you two are having fun together again makes it alright. :)

I love you Mr King. ♥♥♥"

"Considering 'being a king for the day' tomorrow at LC and wearing my hawks guernsey for Aaron King,  RIP mate."

"You truly inspired me Kingy, thanks to you I look at the positives in each day. For that I'm forever grateful."

"So the other day on the bus we drove past a street called hawthorn street and it instantly reminded me of you.
I never got a chance to say Goodbye on our last day last year..
I'm sorry.
I miss you heaps mr king :("

It's makes me so happy and sad at the same time to read all the beautiful things the students write to him. I'm so proud that he touched so many kids lives for the better, but so sad that he isn't still here to do it.

Thank you KMHS for supporting our family so much. I know that Aaron would be so happy and proud that he taught at such a fantastic school.

Notes from Chloe

On Sunday we were together with some of my family and my beautiful 5 year old niece Chloe came up to me with a note she had written to me. It was so beautiful. It said 'Dear Aunty Lisa.  Hope your not to sad without Uncle Aaron.  XOXOXO' and on the back she had drawn a garden.

Thank you for being so thoughtful and kind Chloe. You make me smile and I'm sure Uncle Aaron would be proud of you.

Still stalking the Hawks

A couple of months before Aaron passed away he was very excited to be asked to be the Communications Officer for the Tassie Hawks Supporter Group. Basically it meant he had to do secreterial stuff - attend meetings, taking minutes, email minutes and help promote events.  He went to his first meeting and was really excited about it, and was looking forward to doing more for Hawthorn in an official capacity.

He was excited about some pre-season events that were coming up and we had planned on taking the boys to a community camp and a intra-club match at Aurora.  They were held just a week or so after he passed away, and as hard as it was to go and take the boys, I knew that it was what Aaron would want us to do and I hoped it would be some fun for the boys.

They had a great time at community camp, doing drills with different players. 

Kobe had them all cracking up laughing.

He loved mucking around with Max Bailey, who would push him down with the bags. Kobe thought it was hilarious.

Harri had the best day and was so excited to back in his footy gear, playing with the Hawks players.


After the kids did the drills with the players, they got to sit and listen to them and ask questions.  Kobe asked them what their favourite show was, and Josh Gibson said 'The Wiggles' which Kobe thought was great!

They were really excited that Cyril Rioli was there and Kobe wouldn't leave him alone all day long.  He kept saying 'me doing hand passing with Cyril!' and wouldn't move when it was time to rotate to the next drill.

The next day we went to watch the intra-club match.  The Watsons, Chrish and Mum joined us.

Kobe always loves getting them to sign his hat afterwards.

Jay was excited to get another photo with Chance Bateman - his favourite player.

Kobe was making us laugh as I told him to go out to Hodgey to get his autograph and he just stood behind him with the biggest grin on his face the whole time. Poor Hodgey even tripped over him! I guess that's one way to get his attention.  I may have to try that next time! ;)

I'm sure that Aaron was happy that we are still stalking the Hawks for him, even though it was of course, not the same without him.