The Unscripted Life

Adulting is hard,

Parenting even more…

A daily grind of silent battles,

Behind every closed door.

Each learning curve

Takes the wind out of your sails,

Plans derail quietly,

While the to-do list prevails.

With every high,

A deeper low awaits,

Joy and fatigue

Walk hand in hand through the gates.

No guidebook,

No tutorial to follow,

Just instincts shaped

By nights spent hollow.

Bills don’t pause for burnout,

Kids don’t wait for rest,

You’re judged by outcomes,

Not the effort you invest.

You juggle roles,

Chef, driver, healer, friend.

Every day a paradox,

No beginning, no end.

You build dreams with tired hands,

Patch wounds with whispered grace,

Hold it all together

While losing track of your place.

Yet in the stillness of a hug,

The chaos finds its peace,

In the messy middle of it all,

There’s a strange kind of release.

Not every lesson comes in light,

Some arrive in storm and ache,

But the life you shape in fragments

Is the masterpiece you make.

The Hardest Lesson

My walls were built high,

With every stone

Life threw at me.

I thought they were unshakable,

Yet, bit by bit,

You found your way in.

Over time, I let go,

Letting you in a little more.

Before I knew it,

I trusted you ~ completely, blindly.

But then, it happened.

A crack, subtle at first,

A whisper of doubt

That grew into a storm.

At first, I shrugged it off,

Told myself, No, not this time.

A half-truth I half-believed,

Until the truth stood bare.

Like all the others,

You left me unraveling,

A soul laid open,

Only to crash and burn.

Trust…

It’s not for the reckless.

They will teach you

The hardest lesson

And call it love.

Orphaned at 42

I woke up to the reality…

They were both gone.

My safety net, my home,

No longer felt the same.

It was not sudden,

But the realization was.

They meant the world to me,

Mum and Dad,

Endless chats, and disagreements too,

Laughter that echoed through time,

The quiet comfort of knowing

They were always there.

Now, the silence is heavier,

The house feels too big,

Memories stacked in corners,

Where their voices used to live.

I reach for the phone,

For advice I can no longer hear,

For warmth that is now only a memory.

At 42, I am no child,

Yet orphaned, I feel so small.

Grief doesn’t care for age,

Loss doesn’t soften with years.

I stand in the world untethered,

Their love my only compass,

Guiding me forward,

Even from beyond.

When the Illusion Fades

I saw the real you,

Exposed and raw,

Stripped of the masks

That time has drawn.

But the world sees someone else,

A masterpiece of careful design,

A figure sculpted in shadows,

Where truth and illusion intertwine.

No wonder intimacy scares you,

If you get too close, it could cost you.

The walls you’ve built, the lines you’ve traced,

A fortress none dare walk through.

What you see,

That reality,

Is not so pretty,

Draped in whispers of doubt,

A sky heavy with unspoken storms,

With no rainbow in sight,

Only the weight of what was lost.

Max, The Wise and Loyal Friend

Max, our furry confidant, so wise, so true,

With eyes that saw far more than most ever knew.

At Dialog’s halls, he made his place,

Silent, steady, a calming grace.

He had a gift, a rare, keen sight,

To see through the false, to sense what’s right.

No words were needed, just a knowing glance,

He’d sift through the noise, see through the dance.

And when he approved, you’d surely know,

A gentle snuggle, a wag just so.

His way of saying, You’re one of mine,

A bond unspoken, strong and fine.

His heart belonged to the 14th floor,

Where love awaited behind that door.

He’d take the lift, a mission clear,

To find his soul mate, always near.

But now our Max, once bold and bright,

Struggles through an unseen fight.

Not quite himself, a little slow,

Yet in those eyes, that wisdom glows.

Hold on, dear friend, for you are loved,

Spirits strong, souls above.

No matter where this road may bend,

You’ll always be our truest friend. 

Walls and Echoes

I’ve built my walls with shattered trust,

Layered thick with love turned dust.

Once, I believed in forever’s tune,

But promises broke beneath the moon.

A heart once open, now cautious, cold,

Afraid of stories left untold.

For every vow that turned to lies,

Another piece of me just dies.

I’ve loved and lost, I’ve tried, I’ve bled,

Chased dreams that left me hanging thread.

Watched hands I held just slip away,

Too many nights, too much to say.

So now I walk where echoes fade,

No need for love, no debts unpaid.

Not lost, not broken ~ just standing free,

Belonging only to the quiet in me.

Sundays Were Ours

Sundays still whisper your name,

soft and slow, like the way time bent

when the world outside

didn’t matter.

Laughter lingers in the quiet,

shadows of words left unsaid.

Do you ever feel the echo…

or is it only me who listens?

I don’t ask for answers,

only wonder if somewhere,

on a Sunday,

you remember too.