It was 5:15 a.m. 27 December 2012 when a horrendous scream jolted me awake. At first I thought I was having a nightmare, I could hear words being formed but I refused to believe that they were true. ‘He’s dead, He’s dead!’ It was my mother’s voice and within a split second I was fully awake. My father was dead. I jumped out of bed and ran to my parent’s room. My mot....
I was 14 years old when my father left. I came home from school to see my mother stirring a saucepan of gravy at the stove. When I asked her ‘where’s dad?’ she simply said ‘he’s gone’. When I asked why she replied ‘because we don’t get on anymore’ and kept stirring the gravy. I ran out of the house crying and went to my friend’s house. I was so upset. I didn....
Deep in my heart I sensed that 2001 would be a difficult year for me. My teaching contract in Hong Kong was coming to an end and I was not looking forward to saying farewell to all of the precious friends that I had made over the last two years. What I did not anticipate is that my time in Hong Kong would end so suddenly and traumatically. It all began with what I thought &he....
I took our dog Bailey to the beach today. We are fortunate to have a number of ‘off leash’ beaches only minutes from where we live and they provide a great space for our very active pup, to burn off some energy. We visit the beach most weeks and every time we go Bailey’s reaction is exactly the same – pure, unadulterated joy. It doesn’t matter whether it is sunny and ....
I was 13 years old when my friend, younger sister and I experienced something that forever changed the course of my life. It was a hot day and so the three of us popped on our swimmers and went down to the local creek to go fishing. One minute we were innocently playing, the next, we were being confronted by a stranger who wanted to ‘help us fish’. What this actually meant ....
