OUR PEOPLE
“There is a lot of job satisfaction in what I
do. You get to meet a variety of people and it
is really satisfying to be able to help someone
improve their quality of life and get back
to normality after having suffered through
something like crippling arthritis,” Stephen said.
Medicine still holds wonderment for Alison
as well, even after years of practice and even
though she understands how the ear works, she
is still amazed that something that is essentially
liquid in a tube can hear a symphony.
“How the body works still amazes me – how
we as surgeons can open it up, move things
around, adjust things and then the body just
knows how to stitch it all back together - it’s just
wondrous,” Alison said.
Lofty expectations and the drive and
determination to achieve them are not strange
concepts for the Sprague’s. Alison became
pregnant with their first child during her
specialist training and was one of the first
women to have a baby while working towards
completing her part two exams (final exams in
specialist training).
It was during this highly stressful and
tumultuous time that Alison and Stephen honed
their tag team skills – skills that would support
them through life together as a family and make it
clear to them how they wanted to live their lives.
Both Alison and Stephen have a sensible
approach to the concept of work life balance.
Alison recalling a quote she heard recently –
“People get miserable trying to create a work
life balance.” Alison believing there will be
times that there is little balance – it may be
all work, or all family, but it is more about
averages and keeping in mind that every stage
will pass.
Stephen likes to keep things in perspective –
making sure you enjoy it all –work, life, family. He
believes in working reasonably. Working too much
will frustrate you and you will stop enjoying it.
Another key according to Stephen is to simply play
golf – lots of golf.
A perfectly balanced day for Alison would be
to wake up refreshed, without an alarm going
off. Do something sporty like going for a run.
Have delicious breakfast and a good coffee
before enjoying lunch with friends and having a
special dinner with family.
THE SPRAGUE FAMILY HOLIDAY IN NEW ZEALAND
For Stephen playing golf from dusk to dawn
at Pebble Beach followed by dinner somewhere
great would be his perfect day.
If the Sprague’s had to choose a last meal
Stephen would have Peking duck with chocolate
soufflé for dessert and Alison couldn’t go past
roast lamb followed by sticky date pudding.
On Stephen’s iPod you would find a collection
of house and dance music, alongside some Kylie
Minogue and on Alison’s you would find a
contemporary mix of top 40’s (that is of course
if she could figure out how to get the music onto
her iPod).
Bedtime reading for Alison includes Bill
Bryson’s Down Under and The Life Changing
Magic of Tidying Up, while Stephen’s selection
is more fanciful – an abundance of car magazines
and one of the books from The Magician’s series.
Though their taste in food, music and reading
material may be worlds apart, their focus and
commitment to their family, profession and each
other is contiguous. Together they are the super
Sprague’s.
12 | Pindara Magazine ISSUE 13 | 2018