Terrie Handley, NSW mother to three soccer superstars in the NSR Australia program, is about to send off her two eldest sons.
Jaryd and Aiden Shaw are about to depart on the journey of a lifetime, accompanied by their childhood best friend, Nat Fullbrook.
Terrie, and Nat’s mother, Julie, have been able to hold each other’s hands through the entire process, watching their boys go on their journey together.
Older brother Jaryd, chose to defer so he could go overseas with his brother and friend Nat.
“We’ve been friends for 14-15 years,” admits Terrie.
“We’ve done all the school things together. Aidan and Nat have done everything together since school, gone to camps and everything. It just worked out perfectly, that Nat got called up to the same college and everything has just worked out brilliantly for everyone, for us being families,” she said.
Although Julie admitted recently to NSR that she’s terribly emotional about the whole situation, Terrie is extremely ready for her children to depart.
“They’re old enough to go and leave and do whatever they want anyway. I think for them, it will be a lot easier than just packing up and going to a strange country and say, backpacking. Everything’s very organised, especially because they’re going with Nat who is their best friend. I think the homesickness won’t affect them as much,” she shared.
“Julie has been a mess for the last six months,” she laughed.
“She’s one of those mums that in Year Five, when the kids go off to the school camp for two days, she sits there and cries there for an hour until the bus left. She’s one of them,” she recalled.
“I’m one of those, ‘good on you, off you go, leave me alone, you’ll get a great experience’ [mums]. That’s the way I’m feeling at the moment. Obviously at the airport I will be a mess. At the moment, I’m just really excited for them. It’s a great opportunity.”
It’s awesome to hear both families can draw on each other for support and understanding during this big adventure! Stay tuned for part-two of our catch up with Terrie.