Writing this blog post after almost two months of no posts, is an example of the band-aid ripping that’s been going on lately. I’ve taken some small steps and some huge leaps in my journey of moving forward over the last month or so. Some have been joyous, some have left me weeping. But all of them have been necessary and cathartic in some way.

Take today for example. This morning, I decided it was time to take the kids back to Hidden World Playground at Fitzgibbon. It was the last place the six of us were together as a family, before we dropped Frith off at the airport and he left for Rockhampton. Until today, I hadn’t been able to face taking the kids back, worried they might remember Frith being there with them; worried how I would feel.

There was nothing remarkable about that park visit. I didn’t even take any photos. If I had known it would be the last time we saw Frith, I would have taken thousands. We dropped him off at the airport around 3pm and he walked away.

Band-aids are kind of gross really. Necessary sometimes for sure, but one of two things can happen when applied; the wound underneath can start to heal and you can forget all about it and let it do it’s job. In this case you can go on with your life without any interruptions, and pick up where you left off.

Alternatively, the wound can fester underneath, unbeknownst to you, until you rip the band-aid off only to find an oozing mess of infection. In this case, it’s best to let it air out and not get it dirty any time soon. I’ve had a couple of messy rip-offs, but it’s important for me to realise that it’s good to know about the gaping wound underneath. Even though it’s hard to look at, and I now have more healing to do, it’s necessary in my journey.

I also find it strangely interesting. I was convinced that my high level of self awareness protected me from any shocks or unexpected emotions coming out of the blue, but boy was I wrong. It’s tempting to whack another band-aid on and ignore the issues; the energy to deal with the boil-over that has occurred is severely lacking; but in the interest of not going completely bat-shit crazy, I will continue to delve, and see what happens.