“As parents we often fail to see the baggage we create for our children - how the expectations and values we project on them become their life’s burden.
My son was as a wonderful person. He was kind and compassionate with wisdom beyond his years. But behind the smiling façade was also someone who was constantly battling with his monster of darkness. In the first round of the battle, he worked hard to recover and succeeded. He had been off medication for 3 years and had gone back to uni. He seemed to be thriving. But just a few months before graduation
“When the Japanese were coming, my husband put me and the boys on a boat to Australia to evacuate. There were two boats leaving that day and we got on the first one. But before departure, I realised one of the boys had left his comfort pillow on the dock, so we went back out to get it. He would be inconsolable without it.
Well we found the pillow but before we could get back to our seats
“I loved going to church ever since I was a little boy. And by the time I was 17, I was pretty active in my church as a youth leader. It was a large part of my life.
Not so central to my life, but getting harder and harder to ignore, was the fact that I was gay. I have known I was gay since