Hello, dear readers. It has been a long while since my last personal post, and a lot has happened. My businesses have been going well – too well, really – and mayhaps that success is partly to blame for why this blog has been so sporadic.
Don’t worry, I’ll be writing some more posts about business stuff and what I have been up to. But that is not what this one is about. I want to talk about memories.
My family has changed a lot. It has grown – I now have two beautiful little girls and a nephew. And it has shrunk – after a long battle with Parkinson’s, my father sadly passed away. He spent six in palliative care at home, and I spent a lot of time with him, being with him and helping to care for him.
I was with him as he died. And 6 months later, I was with my daughter as she was born. Being so up close and personal with both death and creation has had a profound impact on me.
Our time is both long and short. I expect to live a long time, so there is no rush for most of my plans. But my time with certain people, and particularly people in certain stages of their life, is very short. My eldest is currently three and a half. Emma and I are her favourite people in the world and all day, every day, she wants me to play with her and no one else. But this is a fleeting moment. Soon she will have her own friends and the pull of “Dadda” with fade a little more each year. Until one day, she will be grown and be too busy writing her own self-indulgent blog to reply to her dad’s texts.
I spent more time with my father during his final months than probably the previous 10 years combined. And do you know what one of his favourite things to do was? Looking at photo albums. Reminiscing about family holidays we had been on. Laughing about remembered mishaps. Sharing memories.
My mum and her sisters are currently healthy, and hopefully they’ll stay that way for many more years. But I also feel a sense of urgency. I need to make the most of this time, before age and health take their toll. We know all too well how quickly someone can lose the ability to travel or go on adventures.
And so this year I have been working hard on creating memories. That means is planning lots of trips and adventures, and making a big effort at home. I’m choosing to spend most of my time with my kids. I’m choosing to host more. I’m choosing to say yes when we’re invited to things – even when my naturally introverted and tired self would rather do nothing. I am creating those vivid memories we will all feast on for a lifetime.
It’s also why I am writing this post and have decided to restart blogging.
I’ve always been a little self-conscious about getting too personal or opinionated on this blog – who cares what I think? And truthfully, my most successful posts are the technical how-tos or business journals. The ones with no personality. But what do I really want from this blog? The posts with personality are the ones that future me – and hopefully my family – will want to read.
Before my dad died, I recorded an interview with him about his life and his reflections. It is a precious reminder of his voice and his thoughts. A deep dive into his head. Something a picture or video can’t quite capture.
I like the idea that in the future we’ll look back, probably cringe a bit but also smile. That we’ll remember fondly who I was at this moment in time.
So anyway, welcome back!
If you’re curious to hear more from me and don’t want to wait for the next post, the old podcast posts are still live (60 episodes), and you can scroll back through 200+ blog posts written over 11 years.
