By Victoria Mullen, WKTV
Meet Pamela Benjamin, who shared her experiences with VOICES back in November of 2017. Benjamin’s animated personality made an already interesting saga that much richer.
Always an independent soul, Benjamin had traveled by ship from New Zealand to Australia on her way to Canada when she was 25 years old. She never got further than Sydney, where she met future husband Craig, who had stopped by Benjamin’s group house to give her friend, Tina, a flute lesson. Benjamin was in the kitchen baking a cake at the time.
“I gave him a piece of cake and he asked us to the movies,” said Benjamin. Tina and another man joined them.
That night, the course of Benjamin’s history changed. During dinner, the second man read her palm and asked Benjamin if he could speak to her privately.
“He told me that Craig and I would be happily married for a long time and have two children,” she said. “I told him, ‘Don’t be stupid, we just met at lunchtime.'”
The Benjamins have now been married over 40 years and have three children. (Nobody’s perfect, not even palm readers.)
The Benjamins emigrated to the United States — and Grand Rapids, specifically — in 2003 so that Craig (affectionately called “CB”) could accept a job offer at Grand Valley State University teaching Big History, an academic discipline which examines history from the Big Bang to the present.
“We came here because there were no jobs for professors in Australia,” Benjamin said. “Craig went from being a professional musician and high school band director to teaching Big History at GVSU.”
Benjamin found the move challenging in several respects, the most drastic of which was the threat to her independence. Although Craig had an H-1B visa, Pamela was dismayed to discover that her status as his spouse was essentially that of a ‘nonperson’. She couldn’t check out library books. She couldn’t get a driver’s license. Everything was different, including the grocery store; nothing looked familiar.
She felt isolated. Making art helped. So, too, did writing. But something more was needed. Something warm and fuzzy.
“I got a puppy,” said Benjamin. “It was a lifesaver.”
Today, Benjamin holds citizenship in three countries — New Zealand, Australia and the United States. She and Craig travel the world; she continues to make art; and she chronicles her life, family and their journeys on her blog.
Listen to Benjamin’s VOICES conversation here.
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