She hated days like this. A hot, blustery northerly wind, temperature more uncomfortable than it needed to be. It reminded her of the days leading up to Black Saturday – Australia’s worst bushfire. She had never known fear like that before. It made her very sad too, remembering what happened then. She had lost one of her dearest friends that day. Christine was trapped on the road by a fallen tree as she tried to escape. S...

How lonely she looked, that woman with her children. I saw her, having dinner with her three children. She was there, alone with her children, drinking wine. Where was her husband? How sad she looked. Drinking alone. Nothing is sadder than someone drinking alone. As I sat, with my husband, I watched her. There was sadness in her eyes. What had happened to her? A wedding ring on her finger indicated that she was married, b...

How blessed am I? Every day I thank God for my blessings. I have six beautiful, healthy children and a very supportive husband. I can’t do the things that I used to, but it doesn’t matter. We survive the best way we can. I am able to talk and think – maybe not as clearly as I used to. Fortunately I had the energy when my children were younger. I could do then what a mother is “supposed to” – cook, clean, wash, drive, shop...

There it was, my thoughts, spelt out plainly for me to see. It was all there. I couldn’t deny what I had written, but it was painfully obvious how bad I was feeling – for two years at least. I had carried a book in my bag to record my feelings when I felt so low – which sadly, was most of the time. I talked over and over about wishing I was dead. More than anything else, I wanted to die. I shouldn’t have felt like that –...