The first impression I want to give people is that I am gentle, kind, compassionate,  empathic, and wise. When I meet people for the first time, I want them to meet the best version of myself I could possibly be. I am conscious of this when the circumstances of meeting people have been arranged prior to the actual meeting, eg, a job interview or appointment.   When I meet strangers on my travels, eg, walking 🚶‍♂️ Lily, I smile and warmly greet everyone.   It is amazing how walking 🚶‍♂️ your dog can start conversations with strangers and Lily is so stunning looking that people are constantly talking 👄 to me about her.

I guess that we should all try to be the best version of ourselves when we meet new people, as first impressions matter.  I try to approach my life with a glass half full perspective and hope this rubs off on those I meet.

The book I am reading right now is “Daily Guidance From Your Angels” by Doreen Virtue. It is a  book I read every day for a little bit of inspiration to start my day. I have just finished reading Marley and Me by  Josh Grogan.

I think this topic is great, and I will answer it in two ways,  pure fantasy and more realistic.

In my fantasy where money would be no object, I would love to live in Parnell on the outskirts of the city of Auckland.   This is pure fantasy because Parnell is probably the most expensive place to live in Auckland.  The houses in Parnell are beautiful mansions, but never in a million years would I have the money to live there. Sydney is the most expensive city to live here in Australia, and it is more expensive to live in Auckland than Sydney. Enough said.

Realistically I would like to live in Williamstown here in Melbourne or to own a beachside property at Barwon Heads or Ocean Grove where I could get away from the from the city and take Lily for long walks 🚶‍♂️ on the beach and enjoy fish and chips and the Cafe culture that Melbourne and surrounds are famous for. Again, this is also a dream that probably is wishful thinking,  but it is nice to dream.

I think everyone has a place somewhere in the world 🌎 they dream about living there and for everyone it is uniquely their  own. It is normal and healthy to have dreams.

I have met two famous people in my life that being Andrew Dentom, a famous TV host here in Australia and the newsreader Peter Hitchener.

I met Andrew Denton at a national mental health conference here in Melbourne.  Andrew was an honoured guest who had come to meet people to be on his documentary about mental health called Angels and Demons.  Andrew had announced that he wanted people with grnuiely funny stories about mental health to approach him, and if it was good enough, he would film it for his documentary.  I plucked up the courage to approach Andrew with my funny story. He asked me to repeat it for the caneras, which I did,  but then he put me on the spot and asked me a question about my own experiences with mental health.  I was briefly flabbergasted by that and bumbled something incoherent,  because my brain wasn’t properly connected to my mouth in that instant.  I knew what I wanted to say but couldn’t get it out properly.  As for the funny story, I told him about mental illness,  well, that is for another blog in the future.

The other famous person I met was Peter Hitchener.  Before my life centred around mental health I was involved in Plenty Valley fm , a community radio station where I did both a children’s program and an Australian music program.   One of the volunteers at this station worked in the newsroom at Channel 9.  Peter Hitchener was the invited guest  asked to come along and launch our radiothon,  to make the money needed to keep the station running. Peter was the absolute gentleman and seemed to know about me by the questions he asked me when introduced to me.   I was genuinely flattered and a bit shy and nervous.

Both times I met famous people, it has given me very clear, indelible memories of good times past.

I must start this 📫 post by admitting that I am totally biased on this subject. My dog Lily is the thing I love ❤️ most in the entire universe 💖.

I think that just about everyone would benefit from having a pet as part of their life.  Pets teach us so much about total unconditional love ❤️ and to look after,care for and be responsible for something other than ourselves.  For this reason ,I think families with young children should consider getting a pet, like a dog or a cat  Yes,  as the parents you would probably have to do alot of the work of looking after that pet, but at least you would be modelling to your kids how to care for something other than themselves.

Lily is amazing and brings me unconditional love ❤️ and joy by the truckloads.  She gives me a reason to get up every morning 🌄 to care for and walk 🚶‍♂️ her.  Looking after her is so easy, it has become second nature to me. She isn’t my first dog . I did have a little maltese terrier called Chloe. Growing up, my family always had dogs, notably Sadie, Tiffy, and Kasey. To me, dogs make our lives complete, and they teach us how to be better humans.  I love ❤️ 😍 Lily so much, she is definitely the best thing that has happened in my life in a long time and together we are a little family.  That’s it in a nutshell, I guess. Pets make us better humans and make families all the better.

The most expensive Christmas 🎄 gift I ever bought myself would have to have been when I bought Lily as a puppy, who had already been desexed and microchipped.   I view her as an investment and look upon all the expenses that come with having a dog as an investment in the happiness of both of us. She truly is my little gift from God.

The other expensive item I bought myself was the white gold cross and necklace that I bought with some inheritance I received from my grandmother.   I wear this cross ✝️ as a sign of my faith and for protection from God in all that happens in my life.  I already have replaced the necklace once, when it was damaged,  and it is the thing that gives me peace and faith 🙏🏽 in God. Nothing truly terrible has happened since I started to wear this cross ✝️ or at least nothing I haven’t been able to deal with.  It is an outward sign of my faith and helps me throughout my life.

I had a few favourite subjects at school.  My absolute favourite subjuect was English Literature,  particularly enjoyed both the reading 📚 and writing ✍️ aspects of this subject.  My favourite elective was Journalism.  It was this subject thst improved my writing ✍️ skills and made me want to be a writer.

My favourite subject at university was definitely Children’s Literature, where my love and ambition to be an author of childrens literature was born. I knew that I would definitely become a writer, having loved 😍 this subject .