And now I can speak to the kids and my friends over web via video calls for nowt!

I know, I know, everyone else has been doing it for years but I always was a late starter.

We sat on Saturday evening and chatted to my sister in France and she saw the kids for the first time in 5 years.

I think she was a bit taken aback when she saw how they’d grown and how much their accents had changed!

It was almost like sitting in her kitchen.

So if you’ve not tried it, get Skyping and think of all the money you can save in phone calls and foreign travel!

Moving House.

Moving Countries.

Changing Jobs.

Kids.

Marriage.

Finances.

Divorce.

Death.

In fact don’t bother, because my good lady is currently dealing with most of them all on her own and I know how stressed she is. 

But she would never show it.

Because she can’t let the kids know how hard it is to cope on her own as her man has to commit to his new job 2000km away and she has to move a family for the 5th time in 10 years.

So as I sit here in Brisbane in my hotel, she’s keeping all our children calm, supporting a boarding school boy, ferrying around kids to events, parties, school, fixing ball dresses, spray tanning daughters, stopping them melting down, exercise a dog, sorting our banks, dealing with moving companies, filling in paper work, trying to find a rental property for 6 people in another State, (might as well be another country) for 6 months until our tenants leave our Brisbane home, keep a part-time job going, deal with doctors, dentists and every day housework and actually pack the house.

The emotional and physical demands on her are just huge.

Are you tired? You exhausted just reading that list? You expecting sympathy and support for something happening in your life?

Sorry. Full up .

Just for minute stop and imagine yourself having to deal with all that and have no support and then feel my guilt.

And to make matters worse, when I get home for the weekend, she gets dressed up and makes an effort to go out and try to have a normal married life while all around her, her life is  melting down.

But I know how hard she is trying to hold it all together for us all and how thin that veneer of confidence is .

And thats why I love her with all my heart and will make sure she gets that life I always promised her when we married 17 years ago.

And it wasn’t moving house every couple of years.

All I know, is if I suggest moving again we will have to need to add divorce and possibly death to that list.

We’ve just sold our house in Sydney and about to start the journey back to Brisbane.

Looking back, the last 2 years have given us some incredible lows and some fantastic highs.

Truth be told, it’s probably been mostly lows and I think as we drive out of the driveway next week there will be tears, sighs of relief and no shortage of thank-god thats over moments.

Thats not to say that it’ll all be plain sailing back in Brisbane but we feel like we’re going home and leaving a lot of painful moments behind.

But as they say, what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger and I think we’re pretty prepared for anything that Brisbane can throw at us and be able to roll with the punches.

Going home. Sounds good.

In more ways than one.

On Sunday evening we went out with Mollie to the Head of The River dinner and this young woman came down the stairs.

No idea what happened to the wee girl we once new.

Enough already.

No more.

That will do.

I’m not ready to deal with teenage girls!

I’m too young for being grown-up and responsible for a teenager daughter.

But last weekend, we headed off to watch our Mollie participate in her Head of The River race for yet another exciting day of rowing amongst all the girls schools in Sydney.

So there we were, up again with the sparrows heading off with all the kids, dog, picnic and team colours to cheer on Pymble Ladies College, but more importantly, Mollies crew.

Last weekend they won the Gold Cup which was a great warm up for the final.

At the finish line, 2km away, the gun went and we stood and waited to see which of the boats was in the lead as they came down the course towards us.

A few minutes later, there we saw our crew pulling like banshees and they came piling over the finish line first in their group, puce and puffing like a steam train, but strangely showing a healthy touch of spray tan!

Spray tan?

Yup, that evening was the girls end of rowing season ball so they thought they’d great ready 24 hours early!

How cool!

Biggest race of the year and our girls were more worried about their dresses.

Just too cool for nerves.

So that evening,  in our finery, we cheered and celebrated Mollies crew winning their Head of The River and just stood there, her parents, bursting with pride about the effort, work and commitment Oor Molls has shown this year just to come out the other end of her race like a golden phoenix.

And not just her rowing race.

What a girl!

Goodonyagorgeous!

However, I will get round to some this weekend  – but, very quickly before I sit down with a bottle of red and the telly…

Last weekend Josh and his crew won Head of The River again  and Tee and I spent the most marvelous weekend celebrating the last rowing season of his time at school and more importantly their undefeated two years in a row against all the other schools in Brisbane.

Words cannot tell you how proud we are of him.

Not the winning bit…. Just look at the photo’s on the left under family photos and just look how happy, contented, healthy and surrounded by mates.

Just beautiful.

Oor wee boy growing into a wonderful young man.

Gulp.

Infact I saw it as a personal challenge to consume as much alcohol and food I could over 6 weeks.

So much so, I actually contracted Mad Couch Disease

Needless to say, I succeeded in transforming myself into something of a Weeble.

I’ve been pretty fit over the last year or so but I figured I better use my time in Brisbane to return to my Keep-Fit programme.

My prefered exercise for the last couple of years has been “Bikram Yoga” or Hot Yoga as most people would know it.

I don’t know about the mediative benefits of it, but I can assure you that this is the best form of circuit class I have ever done!

90 mins of pure hell. And I love it.

I would say it is more of an exercise class as opposed to “Getting in-touch with my inner Chakras”, but the weight just drops off and you don”t feel as if you’ve been beaten up by a trainer the next day.

And the class isn’t full of nymphets in lycra, but more of a mix of people of all ages and weight.

If you ever get  a chance to go to a class. Do it. It’s amazing

Apart form the obvious dietry drawbacks – it was great to be back in BrisVegas with it’s laid back lifestyle and fantastic weather

I can’t wait for the whole family to come back up when we eventually sell our Sydney home.

No mean feat in the current climate  with not much success so far.

The auction is on the 5th of March so the tension in the house for it’s viewing, keeping it clean and the juggling of times and visitors is beginning to take it’s toll

But for the time being, my dear Tee is yet again, left juggling all of this, the kids, the furniture moving and the daily challenges of life while her husband galavants around hotels having everything done for him.

Needless to say the weekends are pretty fraught when I arrive back from Brisbane and everyone gets back into the rythym of having normal family life for a couple of days, only to be thrown back into the chaos I leave behind when I get the plane at 6.00am Monday morning.

Anyway, its not for long – just another 8 weekends.

Gulp.