Wisanow on Good Morning TVNZ

Watch the Good Morning interviews featuring Geraldine and Raewyn - Select the date follow the links below

View TVNZ interview Friday 17th June Older Women in the Public Eye © Good Morning 2011. Please pass this link to your friends......thankyou	View TVNZ interview Friday 17th June What Makes Women Feel Good © Good Morning 2011. Please pass this link to your friends......thankyou
View TVNZ interview Friday 10th June Age Appropriate Dressing © Good Morning 2011. Please pass this link to your friends......thankyou	View TVNZ interview Friday 10th June Men;s Health © Good Morning 2011. Please pass this link to your friends......thankyou

View latest TVNZ interview here Friday 18th March  Surviving Divorce in Midlife © Good Morning 2011. Please pass this link to your friends......thankyou	View TVNZ interview here Friday 11th March  Can midlife crisis be a positive thing/a catalyst for change © Good Morning 2011. Please pass this link to your friends......thankyou
Friday 26th November © Good Morning 2010. Please pass this link to your friends......thankyou	Friday October 15th   © Good Morning 2010. Please pass this link to your friends......thankyou

Wisanow on Good Morning - the first interview - Terrifying!! - Geraldine explains our 7 minutes of fame

Raewyn and I were very excited and felt a little panicky when we got the phone call asking us to appear on Good Morning.  Well, that's not strictly true - when Raewyn told me we had been invited, I said "not me white man, that's your job!".  However, she was quite stubborn about it and insisted that we were in this together, just as we always are.   As it was a few weeks away, I was able to forget about it, except that Raewyn kept reminding me, asking me what I was planning on wearing, what I wanted to say, all those fascinating questions I really didn't want to think about.  I kept thinking they would change their minds.  Not to be.

The 24 hours leading up to the show were quite surreal, really.  We flew down to Wellington on Thursday evening, stayed at the Bolton, had dinner and watched the Silver Ferns win Commonwealth Games Gold.  How exciting was that!
Nothing as satisfying as seeing Norma Plummer looking like she has just stood in something very nasty and can't get it off her shoe.  The two Australian Goalies, McMahon and Cox, are incredible players and gave it their all, but I really didn't feel very sorry for them when they cried after they lost.  How mean is that!

Anyway, Friday finally arrived. The taxi picked us up at 9.30a.m. to take us to Avalon.  It's a terrifying enough experience to sit in front of a video camera when you can practice what you want to say and if you stumble over your words, the nice man just turns the camera off and you can start all over again. No this time, Roger Phipps.  This is real and live, so to say we were a little nervous is a bit of an understatement.  Neither of us can remember what we had for breakfast that day,

Let me say here that everyone at the television studio was absolutely wonderful to us.  They made us feel very welcome and relaxed.  Sarah came in and asked us a few questions and then we had to go in to have our makeup done which made us feel pretty special.  Barry Soper was there.  He is so funny.  He had just been on an all male panel discussing what made The Perfect Woman.  The silly man said "a woman without a period".  What he meant was "a woman who didn't have to go through the emotional roller coaster of menstruation", but that's not what he said.  His daughter was texting him and telling him off and viewers were emailing dong the same thing.  He really is a very nice man, very funny and wouldn't offend anyone deliberately, so he was feeling pretty bad. None of this controversy was making Rae and I feel any better, however.

Then it was our turn.  I think I now know how Marie Antoinette and Ann Boleyn felt when they were going to the guillotine.
Walking into that studio, getting miked up and sitting on the couch with Sarah felt surreal.  Sarah was wonderful.  She is so relaxed.  Then the count down started 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Suddenly, there was this incredible roaring in my ears, I couldn't believe no one else could hear my heart beating, it was so loud. I looked at Raewyn and she looked so relaxed, I wondered how she could do that.  Took a big yoga breath, in through the nose and out through the mouth and Sarah said "good morning ladies" .  The rest is history.

We really wanted to get the message across that women do have crises in their lives, we all do, usually more than one, but we think we have to be big and brave and face it alone, when in fact we don't.  This is what Wisanow.co.nz is about for Raewyn and myself.  It's about sharing our life experiences with each other, good and bad, feeling we are not alone, that there is someone out there who knows what we are gong through and will listen to us.  Our website is just an extension of the village well, where for thousands of years women and gathered and shared their experiences, grief, laughter and joy.  If we can bring joy, laughter and hope to other women's lives every day, our mission will be complete.

In the short time we have been online, we have been humbled by the kindness and generosity of our women sharing their experiences with us and we have taken enormous comfort in the realisation that we are normal, no matter what size, shape or colour we are.  My grandmother always used to say to me "a problem shared is a problem halved".  Wise words from a very wise woman.  It's so true.

We just want to say a very big thank you to everyone who has browsed our site, joined as members, contributed articles, stories, poems and comments.  We are nothing without you.  Thank you.