My friend died a couple of weeks ago. His funeral was last week. I watched online from interstate as his friends, family and wife shared funny and heartwarming stories about his life. He was a gifted musician, a cellist, among other things. He was the kind of musician who could organise, orchestrate and conduct entire […]
writing
Names of My Children
Here we go again: Mother’s Day. This day invariably brings up grief for the children I wanted but never had. This grief, while uncomfortable and distressing, is a natural reaction to the loss of carefully planned hopes and dreams in my life. But how to grieve for these children? There are many ways to grieve […]
Changing Lanes and Taking Risks
‘Stay in your lane’ is a frequent social media soundbite that is not so much advice as it is admonishment. And I get it. I do. There’s only so much a millionaire can say about living on the poverty line, for example. Or that an expert on Russian poetry can tell me about when to […]
Of Beauty and Rage
No one tells you about the rage. I wish someone had. I wish when I was first diagnosed with lupus that someone wise, a doctor, a counsellor, a pastor, had sat me down and said, ‘Now, Steph, lupus is going to change you as a person. You will come to resent your own skin and […]
Happy Birthday, Book Baby!
‘I live with lupus,’ the lady said, ‘and when I saw in your author bio that you live with lupus too, I told myself I simply had to meet you!’ ‘I’m so thrilled to meet a fellow lupie!’ I laughed. Lupus is a rare condition and I often feel a bit alone and lost in […]
‘The Most Important Thing’
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was recently forced to watch free-to-air TV. I don’t watch much free TV, having long ago joined the ranks of the stream watchers. But I was locked down with the flu from hell in a hotel room, so free TV it was. Part of my torture program included […]
Lingering with a Lime Tart
Here I am, sitting in a little café just a few hundred metres from the beach, relishing the opportunity to sit and write. The fresh salty air comes wafting past, washing the last of the autumn leaves off the trees, and I inhale the wind like it’s my last breath. There is something so cleansing […]
We Have Liftoff!
The launch party for Surviving Chronic Illness: Grace in the Flames went off without a hitch! Last Saturday 8th Feb, 2025, a small gathering of about twenty people met upstairs in an intimate yet open space at Thirroul C3 church. We ate food—including freshly baked lemon-and-lime mini-muffins and chocolate brownies—and then we settled down for […]
Am I Brave?
‘I don’t know how you cope with your illness,’ said my well-meaning friend. ‘You must be really brave!’ I flinched inwardly. I knew she meant it as a compliment, and I took it in the spirit in which it was given, but something in me reacted involuntarily. The notion of surviving chronic illness being reduced […]
Surviving Chronic Illness Has Arrived!
‘I’m think about writing another book,’ I said to my friend. We’d just been shopping and we were walking along the platform of the train station, talking about my second book which had just been published. ‘I’m feeling the itch to start my third book. It seems I can’t stop writing!’ I laughed. ‘Any idea […]