Mrs Satchel: A long-awaited update

Our little family of three at the Lost World Valley!

Well, this is embarrassing! There you are, checking in occasionally in the hope that maybe, just maybe, I might be here writing something remotely interesting and...tumbleweeds! Well, today, friends, that changes! I am here, momentarily, wedged into a cafe corner on Main Street, Mount Tamborine, to shed a little light on where I've been and what's happening in the world of The Satchel. Are you ready to roll? I am. Wheeeeeeeee!

Firstly, mothering. Exhilarating. Exhausting. It has catapulted me into a stratosphere formerly unknown to me; a parallel universe that revolves around tiny little people and their schedules, and the conflicts that presents, in terms of ego and desires and needs, is worth another post that I've been working on but has not yet come to full fruition because the more I dig, the more I turn up, and this molehill has turned, unexpectedly, into a mountain of paper clippings, books and research material. It's a mother load!

In short: my old, free-wheeling life is gone; my new life revolves entirely around the wellbeing of my little family of three. Any spare time I have in my schedule, when Isabel is napping (an ad-hoc affair) or her Mama steps into the breach (like now) or the Satcheling is asleep and Mr Satchel is elsewhere, I use to read to keep my brain from atrophy and journal, to just GET WORDS OUT. Or I help out editing material (no easy thing on just a few winks of sleep, I must say).

I am remotely abreast of what is happening in the world outside ("outside" is, by the way, is Isabel's favourite word, because that is her favourite place to be; something I indulge quite happily!). But the other "outside", the one presented to us via the media, is quite inhospitable, isn't it? While we have become a family that Does Not Watch the News, in a televisual sense, I'm quite mindful of not forgetting about the plight of others while I go about preparing meals that go uneaten (the food wastage!) and hanging the washing and gardening and playing entertainment co-ordinator and educational facilitator to our little one.

What I do want to do is to show Isabel is that despite the atrocities on a grand scale that connect us all as human beings, as well as the natural disasters that appear out of nowhere, that surely evil cannot ultimately prevail if we do something - anything - to show kindness and love to others. Like buying a bunch of flowers for a sick friend. Or writing a letter. Or inviting someone to dinner. Or buying a pair of ethically made jeans.

The community of Mount Tamborine, Eat Street Social, in support of the JC Denim Project, 2014.

It's easy, I believe, to stay inside your delicious bubble of baby and home and family without ever daring to venture outside; the docile life of domesticity. To that end, I am very grateful to play a very small support part in my husband's work on the JC Denim Project. His passion inspires me, as does his young, energetic team. Finally, I feel as if my feminism (aka "satchelism") and Mr Satchel's mission are coming together (what a fight!). We recently watched Desert Flower together, and he cried. Isn't it wonderful when our men are on the same page as us when it comes to women's issues (am I right, Emma Watson?). But, more than that, when we can work together to be a part of the solution?

This Project constantly reminds me that not every child has the privilege of a protected, caring, loving childhood, nor, as my husband says, the niggling worry, "Will there be food on the table tonight?". There are children such as this in our own neighbourhoods, which makes me grateful for organisations such as The Smith Family, Lifeline, GiveIt and OzChild. But then there's also the global village of kids to think about. If every child (girl or boy) were given an opportunity to thrive, to rise above poverty and violence and insecurity, oh, Louis, what a wonderful world it would be!


JC Denim Project // Part Two from JC Denim Co. on Vimeo.

Bye-bye! Take care!
Erica/Mrs Satchel