Paddling pool

Callum, not entirely convinced that being splashed by Reuben is a good idea.

Reuben plays Gershwin (I definitely hear Rhapsody in Blue in there). The more I listen, the more tuneful this piece is.

Last night, just before I went to bed, I heard the most painful news and I took a few minutes to compose how I was feeling.

For Crystal Yusten Masionis

I cannot say that this journey has ever been easy. It has been nothing less than climb a daily mountain, your own Everest, to find yet another peak beyond. Yet throughout there has been a great consistency, faces, once strangers who have reached out and comforted us, always through some extraordinary strength in their own beings, finding the right words to say when really, what can you say when the news is so utterly shocking and painful. I'm finding this moment now myself, that search for the right words, but in truth, there are none. It is simply a time to listen and feel, somehow try to lighten the terrible burden this family is feeling. For one of the true shining lights in our journey has always been Crystal Yusten Masionis and 5 minutes ago I learnt the news that she is home on hospice as she battles cancer. I, like so many who are now pouring out their love, support and respect for Crystal as the news travels through the support network in which she has been an instrumental lynchpin in creating, am deeply saddened and simply cannot imagine this journey without Crystal's unwavering support. There are people born of this earth, braving their own tremendous challenges who are walking angels amongst us. Her daughter and my son share the same diagnosis of CHARGE syndrome and every ounce of knowledge she has garnered through the years has been shared, paid forward to each new family reaching out with those first dark and frightening steps as I did 5 years ago with Reuben. And so too, as utterly a selfless woman as you could ever envisage, she has been the anchor to families through their loss. I think of the true virtues of Grace, Faith and Love which anchor her. And that her being has blessed so many shall be her living legacy and testament to that love and utter devotion. God bless you Crystal. You are so very loved. God bless and keep your family forever comforted in his arms.