I wasn’t 100 percent mentally prepared when our girl turned one, and it was the same when she turned 18 last week. In a way, it doesn’t feel much different to have three adults in the house instead of two but it is still a milestone.

A lot has happened in those years. Time is such a curious thing – she is both completely different and just the same Naomi as she was on her first birthday.

I took this week off work for a bit of a catch-up on the family front. Today was six-monthly dental checks and cleans for us, wing clipping for the budgie, and we’ll firm up plans for a birthday party after Easter.

At the same time I’m trying to do a bit of a self-directed Holy Week retreat – morning prayer from the Divine Office, daily Mass where possible, and listen to an extra homily, read some poetry or something like that at night.

I’d like to listen to Bach’s St Matthew Passion which I’ve never really done before. I guess Friday or maybe Saturday will be good for that, but I’m not sure when.

It’s a busy week. My expectations of what I can do in the remaining two days until the start of Holy Thursday night is probably unrealistic, that’s probably why I’m grumpy at bits of lost time (four hours total hovering around the dental surgery??!!).

On the work front, last weekend I got to meet a real princess! And no, it wasn’t Princess Anne who happened to be in Sydney around the same time. It was Princess Lātūfuipeka Tukuʻaho of Tonga. Story coming soon in The Catholic Weekly.

Photo above is of flowers given to the birthday girl. See more photos at Instagram – marilyn.rodrigues3