Lovely Linda and Simon name the day!

My friend Simon is the best dad I know. He's a divorced dad and, instead of getting all bitter and twisted about it, he spends as much time with his kids as he can. Especially in the outdoors, on farms, canoeing down the Murray, travelling in the Outback. Having unforgettable experiences together. In this way he has forged an important role for himself. I admire him. I wasn't much of a dad to my three kids. I always found some client who needed me just when they needed me too. And the clients came first because we needed the money. I used work as a means of holding my wife and family at arms length. Lots of emotionally-unavailable males do the same. Then react with shock when she leaves and takes the kids.
Back to Simon. His girlfriend Linda spent precious hours over the break editing the manuscript of Man Overboard. SHe convinced me to excise large parts of the introductory ramblings and get to the point. (I agreed quickly because that had been a complaint raised several times by my readership panel.)
Anyway, Linda is an editor with a classy, up-market women's magazine and she's edited books before. But what made her contribution so special was that Simon proposed at Christmas and she accepted! So, full of pre-wedded bliss, she battled with the ill-disciplined writing style in my book about sorry guys who can't get it right with women. Congratulations Linda and Simon. You are striking a blow for hope and for the eternal power of love.