Who are the FGMs?

Some of our readers have asked us who or what are the FGMs? The FGMs (Fairy Godmothers) was formed in 1999 in response to the sudden and tragic loss of our dear friend, Susie Padman-Reich ("Paddy") in a car accident in Germany, which left her 2 young children, Ben & Jessie without their mother and their loving father Christoph without his wife. 

There are 5 FGMs: Briony, Bee, Louise, Lizzie & Kylie. Each of us had enjoyed the great privilege of being close friends of Paddy - either through primary, high school or university, as her bridesmaid and fellow law colleague. And like so many others we were touched by Susie's legendary enthusiasm, love and zest for life and we wanted to do something to build on her legacy for her children.

 

So in 1999 while we were in Freiburg to pay our respects and support Paddy's family, we made a pact to "keep watch" over Ben and Jessie while they were growing up, and try where we could to add a touch of fun/magic and care. So every year we sent Ben and Jessie anonymous birthday gifts from "your Fairy Godmothers" - until "outing ourselves" when they respectively turned 18. 

Paddy's family were always very supportive of our little secret  and the five of us and our families have had many wonderful opportunities to connect with Ben and Jessie over the past 15 years both in Australia and Germany. 

And when Jessie turned 18 last year - although our 'secret' fairytale was officially over - our special relationship with both Ben and Jessie (including through our own children) continued...

But an interesting thing happened over the last 15 years - we came to cherish our identity and role as FGMs and the closer bond of friendship that formed between us. Along the way we have shared more of life's typical, but unpredictable balance of challenges and blessings. So with our 'secret' FGM responsibilities officially over we decided it's time we unleashed ourselves to celebrate our Golden Jubilees together in weird and wonderful exploits - why else would a bunch of non-runners opt for a half-marathon along the Great Wall? But we are not the same without our fifth FGM Bee (sadly unable to escape from NYC) :(

So the memory of our beautiful friend lives on - she would have just loved this caper and would have relished the role as chief blogger (in both English and German) as well as photographer, securing international coverage for our exploits. We would have had a team song and corporate sponsorship and definitely a different team t-shirt.... 

Briony is mid-flight, Kylie and Louise are packing - or should be and Liz is still training........