Santipolo

… To work out some things in life just cannot be explained. When I was a kid, back when I had to run away from dinosaurs and there was no McDonalds or Sainsbury I had some really crazy wishes for a kid growing up on a council estate. I want a 4 bedroom house I want a new car I want children I want to be happy I want to see Disneyland I want to be married Let me tell you how that worked out: I have a 5 bedroom house I get a new car every three years I have 4 children and 4 grandchildren I am happy I have been to 4 Disney parks (some many times), just two to go! I have been married to a lady, I have been civil partnered to a man, I am now married to a man Now, what I had in mind as a kid is not how it worked out. To my immature mind I thought we just aspired to something and there would be no cost, there is always a price to pay and those who know me, know some of those prices I have paid. Every parent says the same “I don’t care what they are as long as they’re he...

Today is a bit of a stressful time. My health is low, as it generally is but, everything I can try to do to ease things off a bit are unavailable to me right now. I am dealing with some really serious shit trying to help out my disabled kids and, then a few days ago I discovered my ex father-in-law had died, he was 84. He is my ex father-in-law because I got divorced from his daughter in 2001, we’d been married for 14 years. Her parents factually became my parents in 1986 and, to me, even post divorce they remained that way, I still kept calling them mum and dad, it wouldn’t have felt right doing anything else. But, with divorce comes consequences and I am feeling those now more than ever. Let’s go back a bit. I first met them in 1985 which was a time in my life full of trauma. It was when my mum was really ill, family connections were breaking down all over the place and my parents split as a result of my dad having an affair. On an even more personal level I was stru...