And then your child is born, the beginning of all future hopes and dreams — There’s no interview. The position is challenging and fierce. It comes with no salary. It leaves you absolutely exhausted every day, deprives you of sleep, and the free time you once enjoyed, but you wouldn’t trade it even for free access to the biggest bank in the world. Welcome to…

Celebrating the birth of a friend’s little boy… — The inspiration comes from the poem, ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’ It’s all about seizing opportunity, and being open to adventure. Dearest William, CONGRATULATIONS! Today is your day, You’ve landed on earth And now you must stay. Today‘s your ‘birth’ day! And you’re perfect, we think. But we know that…

To look in a mirror and like what they see… — My 3-year-old daughter a shoplifter? Come on! It was a Friday night. Late opening in our city, a night when it is de rigueur to shop after work, and then enjoy a simple meal out. My husband needed some business clothes, and we went down to the basement of a large store in the men’s section. It…

We hopped on a plane the next day…but this is not his story — This is not actually a story about my brother dying young, though it did happen. The morning I took the call I had just said goodbye to my nephew, his son, and his two friends, who were off to Queensland to catch up with my sister’s family. Bad timing, but…

How the price of sugar and home-made candy caused inexplicable deaths and sickness way back in time. — “It was all very well to say “Drink me,” but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry. “No, I’ll look first,” she said, “and see whether it’s marked ‘poison’ or not.” Would you like some added arsenic with your humbugs? How the price of…

That’s right. Some Books are never to be published again, even Dr Seuss. Use your voice. Fight Cancel Culture to the end. — Banned Book Week — YAY! Until it appeared in my feed today, I had no idea that such a week existed. Now I do, and I’m sharing it with you. I have heard of authors’ books being taken off shelves for all sorts of petty reasons. Almost all of them…

To handle crises you have to have learned how to dodge the rain — Some years ago, a colleague of mine, in the first few years of her marriage, inherited a home from her mother-in-law It had been an investment property in a lovely area, which, over time, would have made the MIL a tidy profit. The home still had a small mortgage on…

So they had to get their comeuppance That’s when it clicked. This was war — A couple of weeks ago I was heading towards the restored old railway track for my daily walk. It’s become a habit. The track is even and well-laid-out. It’s safe. On this day though, I was only a couple of minutes from home, when a dark cloud passed close to…