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I’ve been extremely blessed and grateful in my life so far, in part cause I’m yet to experience true grief in losing a loved one. While I’ve lost a grandparent and other relatives, my lack of communication from many of my extended family (my choice, not theirs) has meant I’ve had emotional separation to experience those moments more from the outside looking in.

As I get older, have kids of my own and see the people I grew up with getting more frail and weary; I know it will come. I can’t lie, I’m unsure how well I would cope with true grief.

A few specific things have brought this passing of time into sharp focus. My dad’s health has been hit over the past few years. While he could very much have some time left with us, there is a fear it could not if his health takes a turn for the worst.

The tough old bastard has already dealt with a brain tumour and heart attacks before I was 20. I’m grateful he’s even been able to be around another 20+ years as I’ve grown, gotten married and had kids of my own.

More than anything if the worst was to happen; I fear my kids going through the grief over anything I’ll be experiencing.

The second thing is less dire and more a recognition that the passage of time is going by. My niece is about to move to another city and embark on a life of her own. It’s an exciting time and a wonderful opportunity for a amazing young woman; I think she will thrive.

But there’s the obvious things. Family gatherings will have an obvious seat empty. While we are lucky enough to live in the age of easy and free video calls at any time, we are well aware it’s never the same thing. As a family with my wife’s side of the family living in the UK, we are very used to it but also increasing aware of its limitations as they get older too.

Mostly though while my niece is an amazing young woman, I still see her as the little almost 5 year old flower girl at our wedding. While I miss those days sometimes, I’m so happy I can look back in fondness and excited to look forward and see how she goes in this world.

So while time can induce fear of unknowns moving forward; it can also provide joy and excitement for whats next.

Melder's musings: Finding the drive to blog when you don't have a specific thing to say

After a productive start of the year in my blog, I’ve kinda slowed down my writing output over the past few weeks.

A couple of reasons for this. The main one being life taking a busy turn; kids back at school, work projects ramping up etc. While I continue to journal, my brain just hasn’t had the space to think and write about a specific thing.

The other part is being indecisive on what to write about. I like tech and interntional living, but I don’t want this to end up as some amateur tech blog or end up just writing posts about intentional living that repeat themselves just to get more posts out.

So, I’ve decided to start a series called Melder’s Musings. Just a space for me to write about whatever I’m thinking or going through at the time; with no self pressure on the structure, length, or need to make a point or provide a key takeaway for whomever reads this.

Right now I’m in one of my happy places. It’s 7am and I’m at one of my favourite cafes near Roockingham Beach enjoying a coffee. I’m grateful I’m able to do this occasionally before I head to the office to start work.

After a series of stinking hot days here in Perth, Western Australia; I’m going to enjoy the hell out of the 27 degree celcius day, although it is still a bit too humid for my liking (we like a dry heat here in Perth).

I have recently purchased the Elite 10 ANC earbuds, which I might write some thoughts on at some stage. I did want some ANC earbuds for my train commute after giving my gen 1 AirPod Pros to my wife last year.

After damaging my hearing with music that was too loud when I was younger, I’m a bit more careful with my hearing these days (I’ll probably write something to expand on that too). As such, ANC earbuds are very useful for my commute to prevent me playing my music too loud on regular earbuds.

Must resist the urge to end a post with a nice little wrap up or sign off. That’s not the point of these ones Andrew :)