CHEESY BUT GENUINE

Gregory and I don’t have a huge amount of money at the moment, owing to our pursuit of Gregory’s dream – to own his own restaurant.

This chasing your dreams biz can be expensive, but not as expensive as long-term therapy as you cry to a total stranger about how you had the chance to try but didn’t have the guts to follow through.

With that sort of thinking, we didn’t really have a choice but to try now did we?

Think of what wouldn’t be if people didn’t follow their dreams…

The Olympics.

The Tour de France (and my subsequent fascination with Cadel Evans).

Art. Most artists die poor and unknown, it’s only once they’re kicking it with Monet and Van Gough that we recognise their genius. 

I’m sure Einstein at some point was encouraged to abandon his quest for knowledge and become a science teacher instead.

Desserts. Hardly an essential in terms of survival are they? But think how dull a meal would be without them. (Yes, I am eating more chocolate macaroon sandwiches as I type).

Life would still tick over without people who follow their dreams. We’d still have teachers and doctors and parking officers, but they’d be the boring ones, the teachers without any passion for their craft, doctors with dreadful bedside manner and parking officers without…well perhaps they aren’t a particularly good example, but you understand what I’m trying to say.

Dream chasers make up most of the extremes in any facet of our world – dancers, scientists, creators, composers, inventors…at the top of every profession are the dream chasers. Without them, those pinnacles would remain unchallenged.

Now, Gregory’s and my dream may not be to conquer quite those heights, (the workload to even try is high enough to be frank), but we do plan for this to be our family’s livelihood.

Which brings me back to my original point about money and how we couldn’t ever have climbed this far without the many generous people who’ve helped us on our way.

Baby stuff is expensive you know, yet we’ve been blessed to have been given almost everything Q could need.

She and I hoon around the inner west in a 16 year-old running pram, meticulously cared for by a family friend and generously donated to the ‘operation exhaust Q’ cause.

There are the endless supply of clothes we receive from lovely friends now through that stage (and a few desperate not to go through it again, and so literally throw baby stuff at you so as to remove any suggestion of baby from their house!).

Cots – two, left on the side of the road complete with screws and instructions in the box. Thank you rich neighbour who couldn’t be bothered putting them on freecycle. Your laziness was our reward.

Babysitting – two doting grandparents, three thoroughly besotted uncles, two equally entranced sisters-in-law and several wonderful friends mean G and I have been able to do market research without taking our inexhaustible 15 month-old along for the ride.

Honestly, I can’t tell you how many ways and times we’ve been helped out as new parents, and now as new parents planning to open their own restaurant, the offers are flooding in.

Sir Thomas Browne said that ‘charity begins at home.’

We are not the first to prove it to be true, but very grateful to be recipients.

And paying it forward, backward or any other direction is our determined plan and will give us great satisfaction.

So thank you, charity-givers, we couldn’t even try this without you.