The Afterword

Tag: family

  • What He Needed Wasn’t a Lecture

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    What advice would I give my teenage self? I don’t think I’d give him a grand speech. I’d try to be a person he could trust. Older me: You don’t need a lecture.Teenage me: Then what do I need?Older me: People who will listen properly. People with wisdom. People who take you seriously and help…

  • The Gift I Didn’t Expect

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    Share one of the best gifts you’ve ever received. My grandfather died when I was seventeen. It was an industrial accident, and it came out of the blue. One minute he was there, the next minute he wasn’t. He died the day before I stared university, so the next few weeks were hard. Grieving on…

  • P Plates, No Plates

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    Have you ever unintentionally broken the law? At seventeen I spent a summer working in a used car yard. I’d only just got my licence, so I was on my P plates—back when they were wired onto the number plate, long before magnetic ones made life easy. The boss told me I could take whatever…

  • The Shape of a Conventional Life

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    What were your parents doing at your age? At my age, my father had been retired for about eight years. He’d spent decades as a civilian in the Australian Navy—dockyard work, public service, a steady and conventional path. But he didn’t retire because he ran out of things to do. He retired because he ran…

  • Dream Home

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    Write about your dream home. I have never really dreamed about a home. Maybe that’s because I value other things. Maybe it’s because I’ve been out of the market for most of my life. More likely it’s because a home, for me, isn’t meant to carry the weight of aspiration. A home embodies values. It…

  • The Day Radio Beat Homework

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do? I tell the right person first. Not by email. Not by text. No social media announcements. If it’s truly great news, it deserves a voice. It deserves someone on the other end who can hear it properly — and share the moment…

  • The Paperwork That Didn’t Matter

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done Every day I tell myself I’m going to clean up the piles of paper on my desk. Most mornings start with the same small act of optimism: I write out a to-do list and work through what I can. Then the next day arrives and that…

  • Two Kinds of Leisure

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time? I’ve realised I don’t really have one kind of leisure. I have two—quiet rest and active rest—and I seem to need both. Quiet rest is where my mind gets room to breathe. That’s mostly writing. Not writing to impress anyone, or to prove something, or…

  • Five Kinds of Fun

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    List five things you do for fun. Body fun: I’m an active person. Sport is fun for me, especially football — not just the contest, but the camaraderie of being part of a cohesive team. The best moments are when everything just clicks and you start playing attractive football without forcing it. Mind fun: I…

  • Friday Night Makeover

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be? You look beautiful when you let us brush you. Some households do Friday night footy. We do Friday night brush the dog (I know — we live on the edge). Our dog has a beautiful coat — dark on top, but with…

  • The Calm at Our Feet

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    The Calm at Our Feet I think my favourite animal is the one that helps me identify what I’m longing for. That’s why it’s dogs. And why, if I’m honest, it’s Nia. She’s a black seal border collie who turned two recently, and she is equal parts joy and steadiness. Give her a basketball and…

  • House Rules for Online Communication

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    In what ways do you communicate online? Online communication, for me, isn’t a toolbox so much as a building: same address, different rooms, different dynamics, different outcomes. Email: This is the study. The good reading lamp. The filing cabinet. It is very adult. Everything said here can be printed, forwarded, rediscovered in 2029, and used…

  • The Roosters Jersey

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth.What became of it? The item I was most attached to as a boy was a rugby league jersey: the Eastern Suburbs Roosters (now the Sydney Roosters). These days, the Roosters are one of the glamour clubs. They’ve been successful for a long time, and…

  • A Life Mission

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    What is your mission? I have dedicated my life to helping people grow. That has taken different forms in different seasons, but the thread has been remarkably consistent. I did it as a parish minister, walking alongside people as they grew in their knowledge and love of God. I did it as a husband, taking…

  • The Car That Carried More Than Us

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    What is your all time favourite automobile? I’ve never been a car person. I don’t follow models or specifications, and I don’t care about engines for their own sake. Cars, to me, have always been practical: a way to get where you need to go. But my father loved cars and he developed a passion…

  • False Starts

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    Tell us about your first day at something — school, work, as a parent, etc. I was four. Which, in hindsight, explains a lot. There had been no preschool. No gradual introduction to groups or routines or puzzles on low tables. My entire social world consisted of Robert, who lived three doors down. Robert was…

  • From Bedrock to Bluey

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    What’s your favourite cartoon? Cartoons have changed a lot since I was a kid. Back then, my favourites lived in a prehistoric suburb called Bedrock. The Flintstones felt clever to me in ways I couldn’t have named at the time — the stone-age gadgets, the dinosaur appliances, the playful send-ups of adult life. But cartoons…

  • A Decision That Wasn’t Really a Decision

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    What’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? Why? Hard decisions come in all shapes. Some are true crossroads. Others pull good commitments in opposite directions. And some don’t feel like decisions at all—they’re simply heavy because of love. Eight years ago we rehomed a border collie named Dakota. Gentle, chocolate tri-colour, quiet as…

  • Light and Shadow

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    When you’re a child, everything feels big. The days stretch long, the friendships feel forever, and even the smallest moment can fill the whole sky. Childhood is made of contrasts — light and shadow living side by side. I remember the joy first. Endless days with Robert, three doors up the street. We played until…

  • The Heirloom

    —

    by

    Peter
    in

    Describe a family member My mother is ninety-one. Her memory drifts now, and her balance is unsteady. She no longer knows what day it is, or where she is. She knows that my father sleeps at home, but she can no longer remember where that home is. She lives in a nursing home now, where…