In 2015, I set myself a challenge to write everyday. I did this for a number of personal reasons – none of them even remotely close to documenting our travels around the country in a caravan! Nope, that was not ever on the radar!
I set the challenge initially to shift a very stubborn habit of writing briefing notes and corporate documentation – a habit forged over decades and which had robbed me of my ability to be creative and make words of fiction flow onto a page. Harbouring a long-time desire to write a book, I had a million ideas jotted in notebooks and a dozen half-arsed manuscripts filed in obscure and random places. I needed to remember to write freely again.
But there was another aspect that appealed as I considered the prospect of a blog… As I surpassed the age my mother was when she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, and now had two children that would never grow up to know their maternal grandmother, I felt the need to document my views of the world in a place where my girls would have ready access. Millions of people would attest to the fact that whilst time may make the passing of a loved one somewhat more bearable, it never truly heals the pain of their loss and as key milestones in life come and go, I realise more and more that I really didn’t have an understanding of my mother as a woman, outside of her role as Mum – something that I miss more than I ever knew I could. And so A life like ours was created.
This creative, write-about-anything-that-comes-to-mind space of mine now becomes the holding tank of a legacy. Something that I can pass along to my girls, either at a time where I may unexpectedly go, or at a later stage as we catch up as women and they come to me for stories, or memories, or wisdom.
So be warned that this little archive of thoughts is a warts and all account of 2015 – the good, the bad and the ugly – and with that comes some interesting and articulate points of view and at times some boring-as-batshit posts about the banality of life. In the words of Forrest Gump – Life is like a box of chocolates… you never know what’cha gonna get…
Enjoy xx
A LIFE LIKE OURS 