Entry Penned Beginning
Tuesday December 23rd 2025 C.E
10:01 GMT+11
Last week was a heat wave; the week stretched out long and hot and frustrating. With less folks at the Castle but still the same amount of work to do it felt extra hard. In the midst of that we had a bit of the past show up to offer some generalised nastiness. It is, however, the time when it is better to give than to receive and so by Her grace I return it back to those who would harbor it; there is no place for it at our hearth.
Sunday Robert and I went and had adventure day just the two of us, driving to Melbourne, going to Mc Donald’s (twice!) and to a big indoor play place before staying in a hotel room and playing Nintendo switch on the big tv. It was a huge a mount of fun, and a really lovely bonding experience after a long and rough week in which we frequently got on each others nerves.
Then Monday morning we got to do what we had come to Melbourne for, pick up Rose from the airport. He was a little shocked, even though he knew that is what we were doing and was excited about it I don’t think he really believed it until it actually happened.
To be fair to him even at his young age he has had a certain amount of trauma around impermanence and change. For years, due to COVID and the increasing safety risks for us in the US he didn’t really go many places and we all simply stayed on our property; for much of his life he saw only the same 8 or 9 people every day.
Then one day, without warning or explanation, one of them was gone. At 4 there was no way to explain to him that someone he saw every day had crept away one morning. As adults of course we had a certain amount of “explanation” and I have my own theories, but none of that matter to a child.
Shortly thereafter he left the only home had known, with only his mum and big brother for company, to meet his grandma for the first time and live there for several months. Then his dad and Auntie came back, then his Papa Nix and his sister. Of course shortly afterwards Papa Nix and his sister went away again and we moved some place else, familiar because he had been there before but his grandpa wasn’t there now. Since that time people have come and gone, which is unfortunately a part of the cycle we are in right now, and each time he get anxious that they might not come back.
I say unfortunately because we are not yet at the point that we can set the timings ourself the way we would like to and have to work around other factors and while we do our best to explain all of it to him; as a child he can know a thing might be true but not believe it in his bones.
Given all of this I am continually amazed by how he adapts, I am so proud of how hard he tries, and how he hard he tries again. It is impossible to say which of his family he gets it from, although I suspect all of us, that the person most frustrated with him when he is unable to regulate or to do a thing is himself.
After a long week, and before we plunge into another, we are all taking today for a breath in; a small rest in that we aren’t taking on any projects and just doing a regular day. The coming week will see us take a drive out to the lake for Christmas eve dinner, then back to the Castle. Christmas day will see us heading out to Wedderburn for an early lunch before heading back again to the Castle.
After that we have projects to pick up for the next cycle of things, my passport, Robert’s AU passport, a new visa for my next stop in Thailand, some summer works for the Castle. Hopefully in all of that I am going to be getting up to the lake regularly to ski and to let Robert have more exposure to the lake.
For now, well I have a Baldur’s Gate 3 mod to compromise on, as opposed to spending the day recoding it, and would like to get some time to actually play the game.
I hope that your holiday period is as bright, blessed, safe and enjoyable as you all deserve.
-Robert James-Noonan O’Wayreth
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