One Year

A year ago today we left Dublin. It has not flown. This has been a defining year for us, filled with challenges, raw emotion and self-doubt. I feel a bit like we walked here barefoot from Dublin. However, if you were to ask me if I would I do it all again? Yes.

The thing about difficult paths is, the further along them you travel, the more likely it is that you're closer to your destination. What I hadn't realised on any level is that our destination is entirely different from the one we had intended. We did not go 'home' or 'back'. We went to a different place. You can never go back.

When we left Sydney in March 2007 we were two recently married, happy-go-lucky, successful people with the world at our feet. We returned slightly older, world-weary parents with 2 years of sleep deprivation and mounting uncertainty about our future. Sydney has not changed, but we all have - by 'all' I mean us, our friends, our social circle and the space that we occupy.

I love being here and I like carving a new niche, but I still have a strong desire to run. It's definitely easier to start again from the beginning than it is to start from half-way. When you start at the beginning there are no expectations, no disappointments and no relationships to resurrect or remedy. A new city gives you the opportunity to just 'be' - clean slate, no issues.

It's an incomplete blog post because it's an incomplete thought. One year in and we're still in a transitional stage. There will be more.

Charlie Brown Headscarf video feat Laura Dundovic

Serenity...

I've been indoors for almost 2 weeks now with my potty-training toddler who contracted Croup and was in the ER over the weekend and is now starting to recover... I'm feeling very 'blah' ... Like I could really do with 2 or 3 days away from my house to relax and just unwind and 'be'. I had the most amazing 2 day break at Monart (a super spa outside Dublin) last year with my Dublin BFFs and whenever I feel like I do now, I think of those few days at Monart... What bliss! I miss you Annie and Leissa.

My little man

This is me and my little man - I think 2 years and 7 months old is my favourite age ever.

Our Dream Come True

This is my favourite photo. I took it yesterday on a trip around Sydney harbour with my son. For me, it captures all my favourite things - both tangible and not. It's his 'vision' and the one I dreamt up before he existed. This city, this life, this family. His exuberance at being on the water, yelling 'it's mommy's OPRAH house' and telling me about all the fishies beneath us as we sailed, making friends with his 'buddy' in the seat behind us (everyone approximately his height is his 'buddy')... it all just floods my soul with joy and a sense of completeness. I just had my 34th birthday and I told one of my soulmates that for the first time I felt entirely at peace - just as I am, just as we are, just as it is... and this is the illustration to that thought.

Australian celebrities sing for Oprah

The Oprah Show

She has her detractors, the people who don't buy the hype, those who think it's all fake, that she's a megalomaniac, insincere or just annoying. I have met them, I have defended her for decades and I will continue to do so ad nauseum. Today, I got overwhelming, conclusive and extraordinary confirmation that my Oprah is a phenomenon. I have never seen anything quite like it. I literally have never seen anyone do what they do for a living better than how this woman does what she does for a living.

There is no pretence, there is no 'show', there is no faking or acting. There is no hesitation, no cue cards or teleprompters - there is just an all pervasive warmth, boundless curiosity and the propensity for exuberant, childlike joy like I've not seen in other fully grown humans.

Many people have the gift of the gab, most coherent humans could conduct an interview and get reasonable answers. What Oprah does is t0 make you feel like you are part of the conversation. She allows you to know both her and her subject on a uniquely intimate level. Oprah appears to have no issue with being seen as a real person, an emotional and flawed individual with empathy and compassion second to none. We see her without make up, in unflattering clothing and in deeply personal situations. We see her as the glamorous, poised and magnanimous uber-celebrity. In both guises, she is the same girl. There is simply no artifice.

I truly never believed I'd have to opportunity to experience her magic first hand and I cannot tell you how privileged I feel to have been there today. To say it was a dream come true seems twee to me. It was so much more than that. We all have our 'person' who motivates us, moves us to tears, makes us laugh out loud and inspires us. Oprah is mine. I've watched her show for my entire adult life - from the time she debuted on SABC 3 in South Africa when I was a Uni student, through life as a young girl in London, a married girl in Sydney, a mommy in Dublin and beyond. She's been there through it all, propelling me forward with her crystal insight, her unwavering belief in our power as human beings and her innate spirituality and gratitude. She's my constant in a life that has been highly changeable. To be in the same place as her at the same time as her and to get her ringing endorsement of Sydney and Australia feels like a sign.

What can I say other than Thank You, Oprah. And to those who don't 'get it', I hope you find your person. It sure does help.