It’s the Squidz!

Content Warning: proud mama bragging in this post …

It’s a fine line we tread when we have a blog.

Those close to us are an integral part of our story, but it is their story too and not everybody appreciates being turned into blog fodder! In the early days I naively thought that as long as I didn’t name names, it’d be okay. I had to learn the hard way, and these days I am very cautious about depicting those nearest and dearest to me on the blog, whether in words or pictures.

I’m a let-it-all-hang-out, wear-my-heart-on-my-sleeve kinda gal. I value openness, honesty, transparency and authenticity. But others are more private – even my own beloved husbear. It doesn’t mean they are any less honest or authentic. It just means that they prefer not to share their heart or their lives with everyone, saving it only for a valued few. None of us are wrong, we are just different.

Why do we call them the Squidz?!

And so I’ve mostly avoided mentioning my kids too much here on Middle Aged Mama, even though I’m a very proud mama of the two “Camilleri kids” – affectionately known as the “Squidz” (Camilleri/calamari kids – geddit?!).

Turns out, they actually like it when I write about them – who knew?! Funnily enough, each of them has said as much to me in the past couple of weeks and wondered when they would get to star on the blog again … so here we are! I’ve even been given permission to share some new photos 🙂 .

So here’s the latest update starring the Squidz!

Mr 26: After graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce at the end of 2018, Mr 26 started working in the city and is on the way to becoming a fully-fledged financial planner.

Our son started wearing glasses a few years ago and he looks more like the husbear than ever, though I can see quite a bit of my brother/father in him as well. He’s grown a bushy beard this year, I tease him that he looks like a terrorist but it actually suits him. And tucked inside that muscly chest (he goes to the gym regularly, often with Miss 23’s fiance) is a heart that can be as soft as butter.

He moved into his own digs last year along with his cat, Seth (more on Seth’s story here). Alas, being confined to a very small apartment while Mr 26 was at work fulltime meant that Seth was going stir crazy – and so he is back with us for the moment (Mr 26 has been back in the office for several weeks now).

Much to our surprise, Mr 26 seems to love and appreciate us a lot more these days 😉 and visits every weekend, ostensibly to do his washing and visit his cat, but while he’s here he likes to shoot some hoops, play ping pong and hang out with us as well. Although he still complains that there’s “nothing to eat” whenever he checks out the pantry or fridge … seems some things never change!

Miss 23: Our daughter was due to be married at the beginning of May but everything came to a grinding halt in March due to Coronavirus, and the wedding was postponed. We’re hoping that all will go ahead as planned in September – but having put it off once, they’ve decided to get married then regardless, even if we do find ourselves back in lockdown.

After leaving school our girl worked as a barista in a local cafe, working her way up to manager, before landing a job in the state government. I wondered how she would go working in an office as  she seemed to thrive on the customer contact, but she loves her job and in just 3 1/2 years has progressed to an AO4 level, supervising three other staff.

In her spare time Miss 23 loves to relax with a colouring book – oh, and she is also a bit of a Kmart addict! Unfortunately she has a condition which means she struggles with chronic pain so is trying various options to hopefully relieve her symptoms.

Miss 23 and her fiance met on social media, he had recently adopted a cat – a gorgeous white floof named Annabelle – and she was won over by the pics and his witty captions I think! Today they are the proud parents of three kitties – a black floof called Delilah – and sweet baby Egg (who is nearly 3 so isn’t really a baby anymore LOL).

I think the kitties are very much enjoying having their hoomans working from home these days, though Miss 23 goes into the office one or two days a week now that the Coronavirus threat is easing.

We may not win any awards for parent of the year, and we’ve had a few parenting regrets – but they’ve grown into fine young adults and we are extremely proud of how our Squidz have turned out.

They’re kind and loving, they’ve found work they enjoy, are happy and healthy, and in this day and age still being in employment is counted as wealthy, so we are very grateful for our many blessings 🙂 .