A story about loss through divorce — Ask any mother how they’d feel if the relationship with their child was broken beyond repair. Shattered? Desperate? Guilty? Suicidal? My answer is yes, to all of the above. The defining moment of this story comes amid a very unpleasant divorce. It is spring of 1991, and I have just…

Who knew the deli counter held such power? — “Please can I have a kilo of Inspiration and six packets of Endurance.” “Will that be all for today?” “Oh, wait, sorry, I just remembered I have people coming over tonight. I’ll need a few slices of Patience too. How big are they?” “Very small.” “That won’t be enough. Give me twenty, please.”…

But still, what the hell were you thinking? — I understand you were deluded. You can’t be blamed for constructing the future out of movies and magazines. It was 1969. Things were very different then. You had a picture in your head. In front of a crackling fire, reading great poetry to your eternal love. Soft classical piano music…

If you don’t like randomness, don’t read this. Sorry, I’m genetically British. That is definitely a non sequitur, as I think British people are very non random. Orderly. Look how they spontaneously queue, without instruction. When I was thirteen, I read all of Hemingway’s books twice and wrote a fifty-page thesis on why he…

A story about the messages we allow into our heads — Yesterday I came as close to being ‘done’ as I have ever been. Exhausted and guilted by life, I threw up my hands in surrender. There wasn’t any one big thing. You know. That one problem you can feel pulling you down. It was just a day of beating myself…

My 8 year old grandson had a horrible accident recently and I was furious — Content Warning: There are some pretty gruesome photos ahead. You wouldn’t think a broken chair could tell such an awful story, but it can, and it did. My youngest grandson is one helluva sweet kid but lately he’d been a pain in the backend. …

All I can say is “Don’t be a smart-arse.” No, seriously. — Let me preface this whole story by saying that airports terrify me. And I have found that Australian Customs and Border Protection Officers, in particular, live up to their efficient but very intimidating and humourless reputation. They certainly did in Sydney Airport, when I returned alone from a vacation to…

I turned to a life of crime to feed my sugar habit — I had noticed that every time Miss Barnes opened her desk drawer there they were. Four big fat round copper pennies. Four! I could taste the citrusy sherbet, the aniseed of liquorice, and the chewy, fruity, gum drops. Every day I had an empty pocket as I walked home past…

It seems that we do, and then we are prepared to do it all over again — He sat on our couch, with my husband and me for his final farewell. We sat close. His sad eyes watered the way of the elderly, his vision blurred by cataracts, but his face stayed turned towards us. He felt us there beside him, stroking his silky red fur and…