BRENDA Gaved-Lorenzo fulfilled a lifelong dream on Saturday when she rode a unicorn on her 85th birthday.
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Well, perhaps that is an overstatement, but it was close enough.
The British born yoga swami, described the feeling as “absolutely magnificent” as she sat astride a grey horse which wore a unicorn horn made of satin and a satin saddle blanket.
Brenda was dressed as Queen Guinevere and swears she had no inkling of what her family was up to when they picked her up from her Kempsey home that morning.
“It was a complete surprise,” she said.
“They put me in the outfit and I didn’t have a clue what all that was about.”
Daughter Cindi Varlow says her niece Michelle came up with the idea because of her grandmother’s love of unicorns.
“She truly believes she will see one some day,” Cindi said.
Her mother and father arrived in Australia from Kent in 1950 as 10-pound-Poms.
“They lied and got jobs on a property in Mudgee as a Jill and Jackeroo, but mum couldn’t cook and dad didn’t know how to shear a sheep,” Cindi said.
It seems the pair were very adventurous, eventually operating businesses in Mudgee, Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast.
“They ran a disco up there in the late ’60s.”
After parting ways with her first husband Brenda moved to Port Macquarie in 1971, where she became interested in yoga.
“Mum has always been a very spiritual person and in her mid-40s she became a yoga swami.”
She taught yoga on board cruise ships up until a few years ago and still teaches three classes a week in her home yoga studio at Kempsey.
Brenda also volunteers at Macleay Valley House once a week, teaching sit down yoga and reading to residents.
“I’m very blessed that I’ve kept my health and my strength,” she says.
On Saturday, Cindi took Brenda on a magical mystery tour to keep her in suspense.
“She took me to the airport and I thought I was going on a helicopter ride,” Brenda said.
“Even when I turned down the drive to Cassegrain’s she didn’t guess, until I stopped at Port Macquarie Horse Riding Centre, and the unicorn was right in front of her,” Cindi said.
With family watching on, Brenda was led around on her unicorn for about 15 minutes.
“It was a beautiful horse and mum looked confident and seemed to have a connection with the horse.”
Daughters Cindi and Vanessa, their husbands Marty and Greg, sister Penny, and two of Brenda’s nine grandchildren and one of her 14 great grandchildren, enjoyed a family picnic in the grounds after the fairytale ride.
“All my family know how much I love unicorns and I want to thank them for all their effort.”