I would have liked to have known my father when he was alive the way I’m getting to know him now, six years after he passed away. When I set out to write his life story in late 2013, I started without doing any research and the stories just flowed out of me and onto … Continue reading Three things I’ve learned while writing about a loved one
Certainty sounds like something rock solid and immovable – something upon which you can depend. In reality it’s ephemeral. Yet human beings love the idea of certainty and when we’re thrust into situations of change and uncertainty, it feels like a test. Sometimes it even feels like punishment.
ANZAC Day at Gallipoli was the topic of the last conversation I had with my Dad. Dad was a veteran of World War II. His years of service in the Royal Air Force, both in the United Kingdom and in the jungles of Burma, became a topic of endless conversation as my siblings and I … Continue reading An ANZAC Centenary tribute to my Dad
If you place any faith at all in birth order as a predictor of personality traits, then perhaps it was inevitable that I would be the one to attempt to write the story of my father’s life? In our family it’s more difficult than some families to assign birth order because we're a combined family. … Continue reading Same Dad, different stories
Something my Dad used to say after he retired has come back to me lately for a couple of reasons. He used to laugh about the word ‘retired’ and say that he had never worked so hard in his life. That was very true. On retirement he took up running a 100-acre farm. He had … Continue reading Make the most of every day
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