I felt it appropriate to name my last blog post after my favourite movie.

I also wanted to post it on Feb 29. Bonus Day. Leap Day.

Yes, that’s right. This will be the final post for my beloved, My Brilliant Foot, the blog formally known as a Beer, a Whine and The Spirit.

This has not been an impulsive decision; I’ve been thinking about it for months. I have decided to finish up, based on my need, desire and readiness to keep moving forward with my life.

I’ve been planning this weekend for a few weeks now. When I realised Feb 29 was on a Saturday, I casually sidled up to Mum and asked if I could possibly have the whole weekend off from the kids. Mum being Mum made it happen, so I booked myself in to a hotel in Spring Hill for two nights, and here I am, writing my final blog post.

I began writing this blog on the 1st of July 2008, when Frith and I had just moved to Melbourne for him to begin his Degree in Medicine. We were newlyweds and the world was ours for the taking. Those early couple of years were filled with random musings, sharing our new life in Melbourne, our traveling adventures, our trips back to Brisbane and the like. It moved on to pregnancy news, then moving towns, then new baby news, then moving, another baby, moving, baby, move, baby….. you get the idea.

I dabbled in some creative writing here and there, but it was mostly all about documenting our lives, sharing the joys of having our children, and giving an insight into an unusual lifestyle.

So much of my life from the last 11+ years can be found in these pages. Sometimes I’ll be telling someone a story, and then I think “oh I blogged about that, I can show them photos.” Sometimes the kids will ask me something, and somewhere in the 1438 posts I’ve written, I can find the answer. Sometimes I even stumble upon posts I can’t recall writing at all, but love reading over. And quite often a post will pop up in a search I’m doing, and then another and another, and an hour later I’m still reading old stories I’ve written.

Obviously the last two years have centered mainly around losing Frith, and the impact that has had on me, on the kids, and on my family and friends. They have been some of the most raw posts I’ve written; often after a glass or three of wine, sometimes through tears blurring my vision, often with me wondering who is reading and if it will help anyone, or just me.

The content will always be here, like an old friend, and I can’t convey to you how important it has been for me these past 11 years and 8 months. It has been so therapeutic; cathartic; getting the words out of my head and onto the page. I have had several realisations as things have been pouring out of me, and often at the end of a post, I feel lighter, more clear, and better than when I started.

I love writing so much, I need it in my life, and this won’t be the last you hear from me :-). I do plan to keep writing, in a different format yet to be determined. I’m playing around with a few ideas at this stage, and I promise to keep you informed of any developments.

Finally I want to say thank you for reading. Some of you have been here from the start, others have joined along the way, some of you I’ve never even met. Thank you for your kind words of love and encouragement; thank you for sharing your own stories with me; thank you for relating to me and thank you for indulging me. It truly has been a gift that I will always be able to look back on; that the kids will be able to look back on, and that will always be a part of me.

See you soon.
Renae xx