I was sat on the floor in the dark, a duvet pulled over me, while my son struggled to settle to sleep. Both of us were out of sorts, tired and restless. By the dim light of my phone, I began to read to him. The book happened to be Prince Caspian, by CS Lewis,…
Small Things
Every now and then, either in my journal or here on my blog, I write a list of Small Things. These are the little moments filling me with joy at the time. It’s become a habit now, but it all started several years ago, when I was going through the heartache of infertility. Around the same…
Seasons
I came home from work the other evening to a glowing fire, snuggly children, twinkling lights and a bowl of warm, spicy pasta. Earlier in the evening, still at work, I’d soaked in the cool air, the dark silhouettes of trees, the sound of fast-running water from the nearby stream. It’s the season for all…
Heads, shoulders, knees, toes…
We’ve got a lot of heads working hard right now, researching, thinking, analysing, planning. Asking questions about big things like economy and death rates and poverty. A lot of heads that are clever and working hard, and some that are less so. Heads belonging to leaders or politicians or scientists and to the rest of…
On Finding Your ‘Thing’
I’m a firm believer that we are all made unique for a reason. We are made to do our ‘thing’, as part of a community of others doing theirs. It may take a lifetime to find that thing; or maybe we have different roles to play in different seasons of our lives. Maybe sometimes we…
Life Lately
There are times in life when things that you barely knew were beginning suddenly come together. The past month or so has been like that for me, as I have tentatively launched a little business alongside my work as a teacher. Now that I have made that first step of having a play with my…
On Contentment
This picture is my way of trying to capture something profound that I’ve been re-learning lately. As I write, I’m sat quiet in our kitchen with our two children on either side of me, both pairs of eyes glued to screens. It’s not a perfect moment, yet somehow I find myself perfectly content. I’ve been…
Lost and Found
More and more, I am a reader of novels. Avid to the point of addiction. I am obsessed with the way stories can connect us so much with our own truths and the truths of others. It so happens that the last two books I have read have both been stories of adoption. They are…
Nostalgia
Lately, with our children, I’ve found myself often back in my own childhood. Our son has taken to climbing the tree and I have gladly followed him into its cool tranquillity, hidden among the leaves, peeking out at patches of blue sky, calm, safe and free. I remember running and climbing on long, country walks…
Life Lived 