Entry Penned Beginning
Monday December 15th 2025 C.E
18:40 GMT+11
Today I did not get my usual self care routine, although it will be returning tomorrow, today was the early start and on the road by 6:30 to drive Vincent and Bee to the airport. Off first to Singapore and then Thailand for a couple of months.
Of course this means everything at our Australia site, affectionately nicknamed The Castle, is topsy turvy as we redivide chores and responsibilities again. The littlest one has struggled a bit, as he always does, with people going away. He always worries they won’t come back again and it is so hard to help him feel safe about that; especially since even at his young age he has experienced people being in his life every day and then simply being gone without a word.
He is a trooper though and we all work with him to help him feel safe, and of course with Vincent and Bee in Thailand for a few months Rose is headed back here son, just in time for the Xmas holidays. There is a certain melancholic symmetry in it. This time last year marked the longest Rose and I had been apart and we were hoping and working so hard to be able to be together at Xmas. This year it has been even longer apart again and it is Rose who has been away and hoping that things will work out to be back with husband (me) and son in time for the holidays.
Although we don’t celebrate Christmas and our calendar has a different new year it is a time of year that holds meaning for us, including an anniversary, and of course for the chance to see family of origin again.
Something I didn’t plan on or account for today was my hearing aids, I got up 2 hours earlier and put my hearing aids on right away, as opposed to having breakfast, coffee, shower and shave first so all told my hearing aids went in and on about 3 hours earlier than they normally do; the batteries should make it all the way through to the end of the evening but it is the lowest the batteries have really gotten since I first got them.
On the other hand the drive today once again highlighted how much of a difference they make for me, there are car and road noises I simply couldn’t hear and now can It has taken some adjustment and some patient family members to reassure me that “yes that sound has always been there, it isn’t a new thing to worry about”. The other thing that came out of the 5 hours on the road was the true impact of how much additional mental overhead was going into driving when my executive function was having to work so much harder to fill in the blanks on what I couldn’t hear. Am I a little tired after the early start and drive, sure definitely; but not in the way I have been previously.
Before my hearing aids even a drive into town, about 25 minutes, was enough to put a drain on me that I would often need to have company or support to get things done once I was in town, today I was able to go straight from a 5 hour drive to 6+ hours of toddler time. I will likely need to take it easy tomorrow but this is not something I could have done unless it was an emergency, not for several years at least.
That I can right a post today as well; I think it is safe to say the combination of the hearing aids and the changes I have been making to my lifestyle, environment and health are already beginning to pay noticeable dividends; hopefully good sleep is on the cards to come!
-Robert James-Noonan O’Wayreth
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