Our family

Every family is unique and it is difficult to describe who we really are in just a few paragraphs, but I will try.

There are four of us – my husband Wayne, myself, and our children Ana and Sacha. At the time of starting this blog, Ana is slowly coming up to three and Sacha is just thirteen months old (younger, in the picture below!). I will say more about them in a minute.

We live in Cheltenham in the south-west of England. I am Serbian whereas Wayne is English, which makes us a mixed nationality bilingual family, and it’s one of the things I really love about us. Serbian culture and English culture are VERY different in many respects, from views on child raising to what should be the ideal room temperature (me: around 25 degrees. Yes, really! Wayne: doesn’t have to be so specific – but anywhere between a fridge and a freezer will do) and yet my husband and I agree on most things and live a (mostly!) harmonious life. It makes me proud to think how we have managed to overcome significant cultural differences, in things both big and small (and anyone who comes from very different backgrounds can confirm that background does matter), purely through love and mutual respect.

Why am I even writing this blog? Well, that's the bit where I call myself a writer. If I dare. Where I confess that I couldn’t really live, nor make sense of life, if I didn’t put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). I write fiction and theatre stuff, although I have also written two books. One was when I was a teenager, and it wasn’t a very good book. At all. The other was in the recent years. Honestly, it wasn’t much better J But writing a book is hard and at some point I will be ready to try again, and it will be much better this time. But in the meantime, my other stuff is doing ok – getting published here and there, getting onto short lists for competitions here and there. I will let you all know when The Big Break knocks on my door.

And now, the children. Ana is your typical toddler-who-thinks-she-is-a-teenager and who amazes us every day with her emerging personality. And sometimes also with her sheer madness. You will see what I mean – I intend to write about her a lot. And show it all to her boyfriends when she’s older.

Sacha, on the other hand, is just a baby, and fortunately a very happy baby. Any parent of two kids will tell you it is fortunate if at least one of your children has a naturally happy disposition. It makes all the tears, tantrums and whining of the other family members much easier to live with (and that’s just the parents). Sacha likes to eat, sleep and generally finds everything funny. He laughs when we talk to him, he laughs at himself in the mirror, he laughs at his own feet, and he laughs at virtually every bodily function (especially the really sudden ones like sneezing or hiccups).

And, saving the best for last, I come to Wayne, my husband and partner in crime of eleven years (at last count). His domain includes: earning a living for the family (it’s never easy when one person has to earn for four people, even if two of these four are still rather small; but he does this with grace and efficiency), maintaining all those aspects of our household which remain a mystery to me (like which bulb fits which kitchen spotlight, or how to get the kids to simultaneously stay in their car seats AND not scream) and then his personal favourites: lifting very heavy things, usually in the gym although occasionally he does also carry most of the family members upstairs in one go, just for fun; and finally, his own life’s mission, making people healthier and slimmer.

We live, I have to admit, a pretty quiet life. We spend a lot of time together and very little time apart. Whenever we can help it. We spend a lot of time outdoors and very little time in front of the TV. Unless it’s raining really quite hard. We go to the Cotswolds a great deal, often just for coffees and ice cream, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if in Burton-on-Water they started selling a new flavour of ice cream called Ana. We listen to Jack Johnson and Norah Jones a lot, and like to read. Both to our children and for ourselves. Life is good, and simple.

That’s us, although you will get to know us a lot more through this blog, if you decide it’s not too boring of course! Can you tell me a little about yourself and who are the important people in your life?