“Exploring life through fiction, together.”

[  So… I got too complacent and forgot to hit send on this email. Just left it sat there like a lemon. But, I have now remembered to dispatch it, late and with its tail between its legs. My apologies.]

We’re going to move house in the next couple of years. I don’t know when. I don’t know where. But it’s coming.

And I’m going to disappoint a lot of people when I tell them.

Fiction Bite - “I’m not scared, but…

… you can tell her.”

“She’s your mother.”

“And you’re the one who wants to get married on an island.”

“So, this is all my fault now?”

“No.” *sigh*  “It’s a great idea. I love it nearly as much as I love you.”

“So tell your mother.”

“I don’t want her there. What if we just elope?”

“She’ll never forgive you.”

“She won’t anyway.”

“What if I come for support?”

“That’d be worse. At least you won’t see me cry.”

“She seemed nice enough at Christmas?”

“She’s like an angler fish. She dangles cookies and kindness until you get close enough to get her fangs in. Then she strips every ounce of flesh and sucks the marrow out of your bones.”

“You sure you don’t want me to come with?”

“You can’t. I need you alive to patch me back up.”

Quote of the Week

“Your job, throughout your entire life, is to disappoint as many people as it takes to avoid disappointing yourself.” Glennon Doyle.

Book of the month

On the Shortness of Life by Seneca

Final Words

Our family wants us to move closer. Our friends want us to stay nearby. My kids want to move beside the sea. I’d really like to move abroad.

Anyway you cut it, most of us will be disappointed.

But that I can live with. It’s having to disappoint everyone that scares me. I’m already dreading the conversations. Trying to lay groundwork so it’s not such a big letdown when it happens.

Like it’s my job to keep everyone happy. Which it’s not, thankfully.

And yet, I can’t think about moving, without thinking what everyone is going to say. Their imagined voices are stuck in my head and I’m struggling to get them out.

Should I care what they think? After all, they’re not the ones moving. Should I be upfront about the possibilities, or should I keep quiet until I know I’m going to let them down? How do I expel their voices from inside my skull?

What issues are weighing on your mind at the moment? Whose voices do you hear internally when you think about it? Are they helpful? Would you be willing to hit reply? It’d make my day to hear from you.

With Love,

Josiah

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