I listened to the Aussie players and commentators speak this month, we all have, its Matildas fever out here. I’ve heard them say that the support is great, playing in front of tens of thousands of people is wonderful. It’s special that people care about women’s sport. Things are changing and we’re proud.


My friend Chris’ daughter is racing this week in the Sailing World Championships, her first. He is there and following enthusiastically. I’m also following with interest from here. I hear pride and excitement when I ask about how it’s going.


Today I played as a practice player against the Australian Frisbee teams before their Asia Oceanic Championships in 2 weeks. I told them that it’s important they play well because they are representatives of the rest of us, as well as themselves. I noticed some of them take a breath and straighten. 


This is all very obvious, being cheered for feels good and affirms the effort and value that you’ve put into something. Doing a project is great, being asked about that project seems to make it a bit better. It adds social, as well as personal value to an endeavour when others care about what we are doing.


I’m struck today by how straight forward and cost free it is to show interest in the efforts of other people. It seems that our interest and care is a valuable resource to be marshalled and utilised as a positive in our own little worlds.


This week I’m going to see if I can add my little bit to the efforts and endeavours of people around me. I'll push out a bit more interest and care as I go about my business, I suspect it'll be great. 

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Also, up the Matildas. 

This photo is of Sacha talking to a delightful Italian woman on a short ferry ride to her inexplicably cool house on the Island in the middle of Largo Orta. It was a masterclass in interest and care. 

This morning I lifted my nearly 2 year old daughter off the dinning room table. Again. She was sticky with cream and strawberry ooze from the meal and from her table climbing antics. “You almost got a foot in your pancakes there Mike” was the commentary as I hoisted her across me and onto the ground.


In many ways this baby has been putting a foot in my pancakes for 2 years.


When she came I loved her. She made our family a team of 4, she was tiny and adorable and we were all very excited to meet her. She also cried and needed help to get to sleep, but was working on it. Then as a 3 month old she got Covid and that was scary. She slept worse after that and had a tough winter of ear infections and drool covered shirts - classic baby stuff really. She demanded a lot at a time when there was a lot to get done.


We took her away overseas on a work trip - she screamed a lot in a beautiful seaside apartment in France. I took 4 months of leave and we spent a lot of time together. Some of it was a grind. She kept changing all the time, growing and learning.


Yesterday as part of a regulation Saturday she and I danced in the kitchen. It started, as I was distracted while preparing lunch, with a cool smooshing feeling on my right knee. She had found a half avocado and was pasting handfuls onto my leg. I leapt theatrically and sealed my fate - the game was on. The music was fun and about love. The avocado seemed to yield endless handfuls. The chasing began and the merriment followed. She smiled and danced, I laughed and dodged. The dog followed the chase collecting lumps of half squeezed avo from the floor. There was a beautiful late morning sunlight. We looked at each other and grinned.


I always loved my daughter, however I now enjoy being around her in a way that is growing quickly. It’s a tempered, sustainable, evolving feeling of euphoria. Love, pride, happiness and gratitude rolled up together in a big familial experience. I’m very glad she’s here, even if she is stepping in my pancakes.