Blogging on a Birthday

Some random thoughts on the occasion of a birthday…

This time 44 years ago I was coming to terms with breathing. Didn’t take too long to work out.

Despite years of practice, my body is not always in control. As I was making a fresh plunger of coffee this morning the handle of the plunger came off. Managed to fix it temporarily – long enough to tip the glass part of the plunger into the sink and break it. Not good. However when I took the broken plunger round to the kitchen manager he smiled at me cheerily and assured me it had been his favourite plunger! “Never mind”, he said, as he threw out the broken pieces and retrieved the potentially useful ‘unbroken parts’.

I can’t be everywhere at once. I’m currently in Melbourne, in between conferences. Family’s back on the Gold Coast. Text messages, mobile phone calls, Messenger conversations make up for some of the distance. But there’s still the physical gulf.

I’ve had birthday wishes today from family, colleagues and from complete strangers like the Suncorp banking consultant assuring me my mortgage payment had been sorted out after all.

I was reflecting with Graham Beattie, my colleague, over dinner tonight at an Indian restaurant at Eastland, in Ringwood. Reflecting on why I write on so many blogs. Some of it’s to do with my need to be known. Not famous. Not infamous. Just known for who I am. It’s a strength and a liability. A strength when it comes to blogging. A liability when it comes to keeping a life balanced.