Finding myself…

When I was in my late teens, a Church Army Officer took me under his wing. When we first met (as he later described it to me), I only knew how to talk about three things: God, Star Trek, and computers. If I joined a conversation that wasn’t about one of these things, it very quickly [...]

The exhaustion of depression

This is why depression is so exhausting. You either: a. Give in to the emotions and find yourself feeling like you’re trapped bring thrashed around underwater in rough seas, unable to breathe and hanging on to the hope that you wash up on a beach before you drown… or b. Expend all your energy trying [...]

The BIG Picture: Part II

“Sticks and stones will break my bones, But words will never hurt me.” I remember being told this from the time I was very young… but it’s an insidious lie. Sticks can leave scars, and stones can leave bruises, but words can burrow deep into your bones, infecting your soul and festering for years. For [...]

The BIG Picture: Part I

“I’m fat, I’m fat, you know it, I’m fat.” – Fat, Weird Al Yankovic I’ve been trying to write the following post for the last few weeks, but I’ve not been able to finish it. I had some ideas I was kicking around in my head about fundraising and the like, but wasn’t sure how [...]

Standing on the outside…

“I’m standing on the outside looking in I’m standing on the outside looking in…” – Cold Chisel, Standing on the Outside Over on her blog Grit & Glory, Alece wrote a post today about friendship. I wanted to comment, but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep it short – she challenged me to [...]

My front yard as a metaphor for my life.

We rent. I’d love to own again, but circumstances (and consequences of some poor decisions on my part) have not been conducive. Unfortunately, one of the possibilities of renting is being asked to being given notice to vacate. Of the two houses we’ve lived in since we moved to Melbourne, the first we had to [...]

A question of loss.

What can you say after a year like this? If everything had gone to plan, at this point of the year, I’d be cuddling up with my six month old daughter, watching her roll noises around in her mouth and attempt to make words with them; battling with my wife and kids over who changes [...]

Blocked

It’s now mid-August. I want to write, but I haven’t been writing. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I haven’t been writing as much as I would like to. When I do write, I can’t finish the posts. They just ramble off into nothing. I’ve been tweeting too, but maybe I’ve been wasting my words in [...]

Happy Mother’s Day

Today was the first Mother’s day in the last 14 years that was hard to celebrate. We got gifts, but I forgot the cards. I usually try to make this day something special for my wife, but it was so hard today. We were supposed to be in the last couple of weeks of our [...]

How to say goodbye.

I remember the time leading up to the birth of our eldest son. When you’re having your first child, people want to tell you so many things. Sometimes its things you don’t know, but you need to know; “when she’s yelling at you in the delivery room, and blaming you for everything, try not to [...]