I’d have to say that 2009 and 2010 has been a pretty interesting time in our life. There’s been some fantastic moments, but there has also been a lot of “bad” things. The great thing about “bad” things is they teach you great things, and that means life gets better – unless you’re silly and miss the lessons, keeping alive the old shite you don’t want in your life. But we haven’t done that. We’ve continually assessed, reassessed and assessed again, always asking the only important question – what do we need to do/change to be happy?

Noosa wasn’t a particularly happy time for us. Steve HATED the work he was doing with a passion and the demands of the job – including regular 2-5am get ups to go to work – YUK! In the meantime, I found it hard getting ahead with my stuff because of Steve’s job demands but there were good bits in there, like ghost writing Peter Hoddle’s book (a brilliant experience) and other writing projects. I suppose there was just too much tedium in the mix to make either of us smile. There were others things, but the work aspect was pretty key for both of us.

The boys were pretty happy, but they’d be happy just about anywhere, although Lex definitely had a time of it – both a bully of a teacher and then his operation. Jax cruised through as always, but you’ll be pleased to note, he has officially entered the turd phase of growing up…. We promise you Jax we respect your independence, so no need to fight us love. Kids right?

We’ve learnt some lessons, and in summary they are:

• Sometimes you just have to back yourself, no matter the risk
• We’re willing to make changes, no matter how exhausting it can be, until we reach our goal of everyone being content with their lot
• There are always great, strong people around who are willing to sacrifice it all to do the right thing, so thanks Amanda for raising the red flag on child abuse. We really appreciate what you did and all that you lost. You’ll always be able to hold your head up high and will have our eternal gratitude
• Diversity is really important to us and we want it around us all the time. We also want our boys to think that different faces/ways of thinking about things/religions, etc… is normal
• Settling down doesn’t appeal to us at all, so the “dream” isn’t something we want or something we are striving towards – we don’t know if we ever will. We don’t think badly of anyone who does want this, we just don’t
• Full time Mummy isn’t my bag
• Living with one focus – to be happy – is all that matters to us
• Believing in your kids is the most important thing of all and not letting anyone make you doubt yourself – it can certainly be hard but you’ve got to stay strong
• Creating a life that gives all of you time together as well as time to achieve your dreams is important to us
• “stuff” doesn’t matter
• Loyalty and doing as you say you will, is something we value highly
• We appreciate all of the great people we’ve met along the way, will continue to invest in those great friendships and look forward to meeting more amazing people in the future
• Sometimes friendships/relationships wane, but that’s OK. We’re all on different paths and while sometimes you mourn those no longer in synch with you, I like to celebrate the great years that were had and who knows, one day the vibe might come back
• We’re willing to keep moving and shaking things up to keep experiencing the true joy that life offers – life experience
• What’s more motivating than working for yourself?