I have concluded that I am not a bad writer. Some people have said nice things about my writing. One very kind person even said it was ‘phenomenal’. I like to occasionally re-read my outputs and admire how well I have pulled sentences and paragraphs together. I try not to…

This week, Lucy gave blood and gave up physics. Both were her choices. For days, the ‘Sloan Family’ WhatsApp group was alight with her preparations. There were regular reminders that she needed to be there at 5.15pm to donate a pint of O positive, there was a trip to Tesco…

There’s a retirement village on my regular running route. As I pass it, I accelerate, shift up a gear, elevate my heart rate, push my body a little harder just to prove that I am a long, long way away from needing it. I’ve googled it. There’s an emergency pull…

For two whole days after it, I wondered if there was something wrong with me. I felt like an imposter, inadequate. Everyone else seemed to be having some sort of intense spiritual experience. I, having broken at least three of my ‘how to avoid using up all my week’s energy…

In the dying days of December, around the time I finished digesting the brussels sprouts, I did what I always do as a new year looms on the horizon - I added beetroot, spinach and a courgette to the online shopping, debated what I should give up - bread, sugar…

It’s 3am, Saturday 17 December, one week until Christmas Eve and I have woken up with sudden panic, waves of nervous anxiety in the pit of my stomach. I have no idea what I’m anxious about. I am also extremely hungry but that could be because my diet currently consists…

Please note a copy of this article appears in the December/January edition of the Presbyterian Herald available at https://issuu.com/presbyterianireland/docs/presbyterian_herald_december_2022 “It’s important that people know that tears are alright at church”. As we approach the first ‘normal’ Christmas season since the start of the pandemic, I am talking to an expert…

I was scrolling aimlessly through Instagram. It was Saturday morning, the mid-point of Advent. An Ice Age was forming in my garden. It was impossible to step outside without risking a fracture. Like every other parent who begs for mercy in December as they collapse under the weight of concerts…

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens Brown paper packages tied up with strings These are a few of my favourite things….¹ I was first mesmerised by seeing The Sound of Music on a huge screen in the Strand Cinema² in Belfast when…