this week i bid farewell to bunbury high and my role as receptionist as i began working full time for pixel magix … i was a little sad to say goodbye to the morning tea ladies - sharing stories from weddings and our brady bunch dramas was a welcome debrief and kept me sane, and i will miss the kids terribly - even the naughty time out lads who always smiled, called me “miss” and said please…but since daisy burst into our lives - 3 months before she was supposed to - a little over 4 years ago…this next step has always been a part of the ‘grand plan’
mike - sometimes perceived in our house as quite the grumpy old goat - has dreamed of our business being successful, innovative, sought after and run by the two of us. with my feet firmly planted in the ground, i reasoned that a steady income was required to - you know - feed the family while we grew and prospered…mike smiled (yes with those teeth 
) and winked (gets me everytime) and said wait and see babe, you’ll be home with daisy before you know it… true enough, 2009 has bought much good fortune through long hours, hard work, loyal clients, support from friends and family, and the sufferance of takeaway meal after takeaway meal by our children…
so now i can watch our little daisy day by day find her feet as she begins primary school, be a fruit helper mum and read stories after school in the warm afternoon sun…i worked on her first day of kindy and although mike recountered each mini moment for me, it still gives me heart pain…
and i will have more time to listen to darling lucy as she begins high school…a upside down inside out time for teenage girls…and a time when all they crave is a listener - not a dad to diss the rules, or a mum to order curfews - just a moment for the frustration to spew forth with the “OMG’s” and the “like’s” and the “you know’s”…
and i can join gorgeous claire - our clever apprentice hairdresser - for lunch and sip on my latte while she giggles and chats about this client and that day and last weeks party and how i really should try extensions and would i like foils…
and i can kick the footy and throw the ball and shoot hoops and listen to the new song of caleb - our sometimes surly, sometimes overly assertive teenager - who has middle child syndrome in double doses and vehemently defends the underdog even if it delivers a suspension to boot…but has an amazing smile that lights up the freckles across the nose and illuminates his beautiful eyes and makes me forgive all the cussing to believe in him and his righteous ways…
and i can keep an eye on boden and caleb - two young men - tall, handsome, kind, happy and with shoulders that have appeared from nowhere and embrace me with such strength it hurts … they can drive, at times badly, they have income, at times spent wisely and they help nannie out with unprecedented devotion…they enter a world unknown to mike and i - a world of insane drug and alcohol abuse by young people who consider it perfectly normal, a world of frightening violence at a backyard party that barely rates a mention - these young men need my time more than ever, a quiet but incessant and determined voice of reason that is present with their morning cereal, iced bun for smoko, afternoon coffee and “goodnight love” at bedtime…
and dear oh dear my home so needs my time…presently it looks fairly similiar to this…
and who knows babe…the trapped and hidden domestic goddess may slip into the polka dot dress once again and whip up a few cakes in red stilettos just so you can sit back and tell me “i told you so”…
your leap of faith, babe, has created an abundant and blissfully happy home for us all…i thank you from the bottom of my creative soul and love you with all of my heart…
You are the tunes in my head, the fire in my ribs
You are the voice in my heart that whispers compassion
You are the storm on the ocean, poems in the trees
The smell of the winter that haunts me each autumn
You’re my everything
things of stone and wood
