I was absolutely speechless reading that... and I still am.
It's probably why I always want to speak to you! You're such an amazing person. I'm just so sorry for what you've had to go through and some time, I'll compare the heartache I've experienced in my own life up to now...
it's sad to read about how the Atheist bus campaign led to such a devastating effect. Perhaps some Christians need to spend more time reading their Bibles and remember how Jesus always spoke with grace and love!
I am sad to read this Ariane and I wish things could have gone better for you but I have to agree with Stephen Bowen's comment that we are the sum of our experiences.
If I could have been warned off some of the mistakes that I made when I was younger I'm sure that I would have gone on to make new mistakes.
There were some points in my life where if things had gone ever so slightly differently then my life today would be nothing like it is. It was quite a complicated sequence of events that led to me getting together with my wife and if any one of these steps hadn't happened then I might be in a very different situation. I could have met and married someone else and had a fabulous life with her or did I have a lucky escape?
Although I often complain about things, I am lucky in many ways, I have had an interesting career which has included travelling to over 50 countries, I have done a wide variety of other things, I have a loving family who all get on well together, at least most of the time, and I have the reached suggestive age of 69 in reasonable health.
You are indeed a talented novelist and singer/songwriter and I hope that, as you say, you will prevail.
Thank you so much Alan, that is very sweet of you. You're right, no one can live a life free of mistakes, and even though I fantasise about starting over, who knows - I might not even be alive now if I had! So I have to feel grateful for still being here, in good health, and Lily being safe and happy and healthy and loved. I'm glad you've lived a fun and interesting life too and wow, been to 50 countries. I've only been to 15 and for that I'd have to count England, Scotland and Wales separately, or else it's only 13!
13 countries isn't bad going. You probably wouldn't want to go to some of the places I've been, such as Saudi Arabia. The first time I went there I wanted to go to the toilet at the company's offices. I found what looked the like the place but I wasn't sure if it was the ladies or the gents. If I walked in on some women I could cause a major incident, I thought. Then I realised there wasn't a ladies loo because everyone who worked there was male.
It says a lot about you that you didn't become anti-man or anti-family after this.
As this song points out, a traumatic childhood has its uses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eh-EEFHQEA I wrote it in 2012, so the pop culture reference at the end is mercifully outdated
Never adopted, I am working on a new song about ancestors and how the decision not to have kids ends a bloodline that goes back millennia, including people who had to make love in mudhuts while animals were stalking.
But, we are the sum of our experiences. If you had done the right thing, or what you perceive now to have been the right thing then, you would not be the kind of person who could have written this letter. I like that person, it makes you interesting.
I was absolutely speechless reading that... and I still am.
It's probably why I always want to speak to you! You're such an amazing person. I'm just so sorry for what you've had to go through and some time, I'll compare the heartache I've experienced in my own life up to now...
(Unable to put heart emojis on here, sadly).
Aww, thank you so much, Paul. Really appreciate that. Hope you're doing well.
it's sad to read about how the Atheist bus campaign led to such a devastating effect. Perhaps some Christians need to spend more time reading their Bibles and remember how Jesus always spoke with grace and love!
Thanks sweetheart. It was very frightening at the time but it’s a long way in the past now.
I am sad to read this Ariane and I wish things could have gone better for you but I have to agree with Stephen Bowen's comment that we are the sum of our experiences.
If I could have been warned off some of the mistakes that I made when I was younger I'm sure that I would have gone on to make new mistakes.
There were some points in my life where if things had gone ever so slightly differently then my life today would be nothing like it is. It was quite a complicated sequence of events that led to me getting together with my wife and if any one of these steps hadn't happened then I might be in a very different situation. I could have met and married someone else and had a fabulous life with her or did I have a lucky escape?
Although I often complain about things, I am lucky in many ways, I have had an interesting career which has included travelling to over 50 countries, I have done a wide variety of other things, I have a loving family who all get on well together, at least most of the time, and I have the reached suggestive age of 69 in reasonable health.
You are indeed a talented novelist and singer/songwriter and I hope that, as you say, you will prevail.
Thank you so much Alan, that is very sweet of you. You're right, no one can live a life free of mistakes, and even though I fantasise about starting over, who knows - I might not even be alive now if I had! So I have to feel grateful for still being here, in good health, and Lily being safe and happy and healthy and loved. I'm glad you've lived a fun and interesting life too and wow, been to 50 countries. I've only been to 15 and for that I'd have to count England, Scotland and Wales separately, or else it's only 13!
13 countries isn't bad going. You probably wouldn't want to go to some of the places I've been, such as Saudi Arabia. The first time I went there I wanted to go to the toilet at the company's offices. I found what looked the like the place but I wasn't sure if it was the ladies or the gents. If I walked in on some women I could cause a major incident, I thought. Then I realised there wasn't a ladies loo because everyone who worked there was male.
Wow. That's so sad.
It says a lot about you that you didn't become anti-man or anti-family after this.
As this song points out, a traumatic childhood has its uses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eh-EEFHQEA I wrote it in 2012, so the pop culture reference at the end is mercifully outdated
Men are the scarier sex by far, not gonna lie.
Haha, I take it you never adopted?!
Never adopted, I am working on a new song about ancestors and how the decision not to have kids ends a bloodline that goes back millennia, including people who had to make love in mudhuts while animals were stalking.
But, we are the sum of our experiences. If you had done the right thing, or what you perceive now to have been the right thing then, you would not be the kind of person who could have written this letter. I like that person, it makes you interesting.
Aww, thank you Steve. But I would happily trade being interesting for emotional stability and security.