The one I should have written on Father's Day.

I know, I know.  I'm a bit late.  But better late than never, hey?

This is my hubby.  He's a pretty simple bloke.  I love that.  I spent years mucking around with swarmy dickheads who did my head in with games; the only game The Tradie plays regularly would be the ones on his PS2.

He's reliable, trustworthy and a super dad.


Tradie wasn't ready to be a dad.  Little Red was what you might call a "happy surprise".  Well, happy for me.  Quite devestating to him.  At the time.  Although we were happily - albeit newly - married, the baby wasn't in the short-term plan just yet.


But he came around, and how.  A part of my metal-loving, guitar-playing, rough and ready, VB drinking lad is a pure, little boy full of wonder and he absolutely delights in his daughter.  She is the great love of his life, and watching them together can often bring a tear to my eye.

It's not been all roses with us.  There's an anger (at himself and the world), impatience and darkness I sometimes feel I can't reach; tantrums that frighten, edges a little too rough.    Maybe I've done something to smooth them a little over the years.... I hope so.   But what I see, and have always seen, is that core of innate 'goodness', that desperation to do the right thing, boundless generosity and the solid values that make me certain we'll grow old together.  He's might be a 'teenage dirtbag' (as the words to one of our favourite old songs went) - but he's my teenage dirtbag.


And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong;
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

- Ben Folds "The Luckiest"