Who's that girl?

On xmas day at my sister's house whilst I was chatting to my brother I was distracted by a stranger in the hallway. I noticed a tall girl standing by the stairs chatting to my 20 yr old neice Chloe. I wondered who it was since it was just family that had come to visit, so why had one of Chloe's friends come to say hello today? Then I was impressed at how good-looking she was, and at that moment realised it was my wife standing on the last step.

How cool was that!? It felt very odd at the moment of realisation, and I considered myself priveleged to have experienced a very important part of my life objectively. When I was in my late teens I'd make a habit of looking at my life objectively to the point of being profoundly moved on a regular basis - I almost changed my religion. Now I feel well and truly buried in my life full of tiny trials and life-changing decisions, but rarely do I step outside myself to consider how wonderfully my life has turned out. And it's refreshing to step outside yourself. Almost like a brief respite from those heavy thoughts called responsibilty!

Of course, I could have interpreted my out of body experience a totally different way, like oh I'm so drunk I don't even recognize my own wife. Except I wasn't drunk. I was very tired. Take the above photo as proof. I'll name the image 'before and after'. My brother Jeremy on the left with his 7 month old girl Leala May, arm placed forward protecting his young, wearing a proud smile. And there I am on the right with my second child Catalina, pale, withdrawn and exhausted, nothing but a blank unkempt rag of a face almost accusing my dear baby of sleep theft.