You'll always be my mum....
family
It’s funny the things that can trigger off a series of thoughts and emotions. It’s hard to know for sure, but I think that on this occasion I think a few of things came together: an article from a funeral director asking people to stand an pay respects if they see a cortege as with the COVID-19 restrictions the actual funeral ceremony is rather sparse (this in turn prompted a strange dream which let me in an odd mood for the day); seeing my neighbour and his son putting up a pergola; and assembling a Raspberry-Pi based project!
[read more]family
bereavement
loss
My wife and I just hit our fifteen year wedding anniversary (and seventeen years together), which prompted me to reflect on our shared journey. Fifteen years sounds like a long time but in a lot of ways it feels like the blink of an eye.
It has been an eventful fifteen (or seventeen) years! During this time I’ve lost a Dad, gained a new Dad, we had three amazing kids, two painful miscarriages, moved house three times, bought a trailer tent, upsized to a caravan, started a salsa teaching company, had various job/career changes, and started home educating.
[read more]love
marriage
This post has been in the back of my mind for a while….
I’ve had many conversations on sexism and feminism, and one question that I’ve noticed often comes up (when having conversations with other men) is “what about holding a door open for a woman? Is that sexist?”
Men holding doors open for women is just one of the things that society teaches us to do from a young age.
[read more]chivalry
sexism
Last night I went to the Men’s Circle run by Andy Clubley-Moore. I’ll admit that I was a little apprehensive about going for a number of reasons (one of which is my general preference towards mixed groups).
We kicked off with a cuppa and a chat, and then Andy outlined the plan for the evening. First up was starting off a sourdough culture. The circle is going to be an ongoing, regular event, and I’m looking forward to some bread from the culture at future circles :-).
[read more]connection
listening
word of the year
Dear Freddie,
I really thought we’d meet you. With the three successful pregnancies that preceded the first miscarriage, I really thought that this time things would be ok. Yes, I know probability doesn’t work like that. But still, I felt that we would meet you. That’s not to say that there wasn’t worry (boy was there worry!), but ultimately I really thought that this time would be ok.
Once again, I’m grieving.
[read more]pregnancy
miscarriage
loss
Thanks to my wife, we discovered Hand in Hand Parenting a while back and did their starter class. This proved to be a great thing and precipitated some pretty big changes that have improved our family life. Hand in Hand gives a set of tools for parenting, including one focussed on parents: listening partnerships.
The basic idea of listening partnerships is that it is a safe place to share and explore your feelings.
[read more]hand-in-hand
listening partnerships
Note: this post was written a couple of years ago (before I even had a blog to publish to!)…
Picture this: We’re away camping and I’m stood in the middle of a field with a cup of coffee in my hand while my 4 year old daughter is sat on a composting toilet doing her business. Holy crap, this is the life! I mean, what does it take to even be able to aspire to this?
[read more]family
the little things
life
…about you. I love how immensely passionate you get about things
I love your strong sense of injustice
I love your belief in the good in people
I love you for keeping me honest
I love you for your desire to make the world a better place
I love you for sticking with me even when I’m not giving you what you need
I love you for filling forms out for me because you know how much I hate them
[read more]love
life
Dear Caitlin.
Dear child that I never got to meet.
The smiles I will never see, the hugs I will never have.
1 in 5 pregnancies results in miscarriage. Yet no-one talks about it. Most common in the first three months. Which is the point where no-one talks about being pregnant. And if you’ve not told people you’re pregnant, well… how do you bring up that you lost the baby?
[read more]pregnancy
miscarriage
loss