My year in review…..

What three words best describe your year?

Challenging, exhausting, inspiring

What achievement(s) are you most proud of?

• Continuing to nurture a creative, free thinking and reading child
• Graduating Uni (again!)
• Securing a permanent ongoing job in an Academic Library
• Marched the Streets of Ballarat in the Reclaim the Night, with my dear family.
• Securing the role of a judge in the Aurealis Awards.
• One of my students winning an Australia wide prize for her Book Review.

What are you most thankful for?

My love of my life: the rock that I hold onto when we enter treacherous waters, who always steers us clear. My friends who are my family – they are the ones I choose to have in my life and I will treasure forever.

What new thing(s) did you learn about?

• Library Advocacy
• Library Research
• The fact I am a survivor.
• Menopause is not a life sentence.

What new thing(s) did you do?

• Entered my school for a book review competition – and one of my favourite students won!
• Networked like there was no tomorrow
• Joined a committee to become a better Library advocate – ALIA Children’s and Youth Services
• Designed my son’s hat for his school performance of the Lion King (I can be artistic…)
• Volunteered at School Libraries (giving back to the communities)
• Research library website accessibilities.
• Took part in an interview about menopause for a PhD student’s research
• Took my child to his first midnight movie opening, and having him say to me I’ve found my community – Star Wars fans of Ballarat I love you!!!!

What activities made you lose track of time?

• Doing creative projects – knitting
• Reading
• Gardening
• Hanging out with my family

What was the year’s funniest moment?

My son bursting into Let it Go! in his Lion King performance – he got the laughs and I was so proud of him for choosing to sing it and singing it….

What little things made you happy on a day-to-day basis?

• My family
• My cat Venom – the great smoocher of cats
• My dog Rhoady – friend of all, and the best friend a child can have
• My friends
• My garden
• Wearing clothes from op-shops
• Picking fresh produce from my garden
• Having a strong body that continues to weather menopause with me
• My lovely friends
• Good books
• Libraries

How was your head? What was your most common mental state?

How am I going to fit this all in and still be the mother, lover, friend that I need myself to be?

Which worries turned out to be completely unnecessary?

Will I be able to finish all my goals this year? Yes I can, but only when I stop procrastinating and get on with it.

What was the biggest challenge you faced?

My stomach – oh the joys of low Fodmaps, gluten, dairy, soy, yeast free living. Everyday I’m not sure what will happen, and each day I try to be more mindful of what I eat. So introducing a mantra I say each morning – May I be mindful of what I eat today.

What was the biggest problem you solved?

How can I eat out – it’s hard for me being unable to just choose items off a menu, without going can’t eat this, can’t eat that. So I’m now focusing on what I can eat, and letting everything else get sorted.

What was your year in review?

Season’s greetings and thanks for being with me on this year of discovery!

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Gratefulness continues…..

I’m still on my gratefulness kick, so each night I lie in bed and reflect on what I’m grateful for…..

The first is having this extra day of health to enjoy.

The second is always the love and support of my family and friends.

Then my list goes on, it is filled with simple things like being able to grow my own food, watering the garden (dog, child, partner…..it is summer here, and some nights are just too hot not to enjoy in a little water play), having my own home, being well enough to walk my child to and from school…..you get the idea.

What I’ve found, is this calms me, and focuses my attention on what is really important. I look at life with new eyes, and see the possibilities of it all.

I hope that you too can enjoy some moments of gratefulness and reflection. It’s an opportunity to slow down and reflect upon what really matters to you.

A Week of racing ahead

Well tomorrow will dawn on my child’s sixth birthday. What a rollercoaster we’ve had since we met him, all those years ago.

He’s taught us a lot, and I thought now would be a good time to share with you some of the gems:

1. There is no such thing as a perfect parent. We all have good and bad days, but it’s how we share them, that is important to us as a family.

2. Love conquers a lot of things. But it certainly helps to have a hug and a kind word when the world is dark and you’ve woken up from a nightmare.

3. Lego is king. Or queen. From me playing with it thirty-five years ago to now, it still remains a fantastic entertainment device for little hands and big minds.

4. Family comes in many shapes and many forms. And we love them all, and for the most part, they are the family we’ve made for ourselves not the one we inherited. Thank you one and all for being there along this wild ride!

5. When all else fails, hide under the quilt. A handy hint, when faced with things like waking up at 4am and being unable to go back to sleep – the joy of living in Tasmania when the sun rose at this horrid hour, and our child was like, well the suns up, I must be up.

6. Cats and kids do get along. We had two indoor only cats when we brought our little bundle of joy home, and they all survived each other. The cats were scared of the small wiggling squealing one, and so never, ever decided they wanted in on the warm bedroom.

7. Chaos is my new mantra. Order is out, and Chaos is in. And it really doesn’t matter if the house is not perfect.

8. I love my washing machine. Well it serves day in and day out to keep up with the clothes being worn, and in those early early days of parenthood when changes of clothes were mandatory – it served well. That’s why we’re on our third one!

9. What matters most is being able to hold and be held. Not that the house is clean, or whether you think you need a new pair of jeans. Just being there with your loved ones can be enough.

10. Love is the gift we give to the next generation. Be generous with it.

Along came my brother

Ten years ago, I saw my brother onboard a small boat as we sailed out into the ocean to scatter our parent’s ashes. And just this last Sunday, I had the pleasure of seeing him again.

Time flew by, for both of us. And now he’s a granddad and with more grandkiddies on the way. His children are all grown and married and reproducing…..

And it was good to see him.

You see over that last decade, we fell out of contact. He is fifteen years my elder, and we just didn’t have a lot in common, especially after Mum died, and then Dad followed her five years later. And my family broke apart. Scattering forever to the winds of change.

But we sat and had Sunday Lunch together with his wife (my one and only sister-in-law) and my partner and son. And it was good. We talked and chatted, heard all about the news, and it felt like for that moment we were back to being family.

Whether we see each other again, before another ten years passes will be up to the pair of us. And I for one, want my son to grow up knowing this side of my extended and kinda different family.