It is now 7 weeks since Sue died and 3 weeks since the previous blog post. While my journey continues as a 'single married man' (I can't come at the tag of 'widower' - and it says nothing about how I see myself) it is timely to draw this blog to a close. It started as a convenient (possibly even selfish) way of keeping people informed of our progress - but morphed into something richer and deeper and more profound for us and (apparently) for others. It became a place of exploration, expression, sharing, teaching and learning. It became a community of love and care; of fun and sorrow. It became a permanent chronicle of God's faithfulness to us in the journey of (this part of) life. It became a rich, intricate, and surprisingly beautiful 'picture' where the colours, tones, shadings and nuances of our joy and grief indeed mixed and merged.

But it is time to paint the last few strokes and recognise that 'our journey' has become 'my journey' - a different story yet to be written and told. I am tempted to take this last 'moment' and write of my musings about the difference and relationship between aloneness, loneliness and solitude - but my musing is 'underdone' yet. I could (but will not now) share with you how often I shed tears and what causes them to ooze or flow. I could (but will not now) unpack the reasons for my decision not to return to my role as CEO of NT Christian Schools in 2016, some of which are probably predictable, others perhaps less so. I could (but will not now) indulge myself, for fear of apprearing sympathy-seeking, by discussing how the decision about my work inevitably becomes a decision to sell our (my) Darwin home. I could (but will not now) outline the shadow of a future that is fleetingly cast when the sunrays of hope and expectancy break fingerlike through the clouds of strangeness and grief.

However, I will assert and affirm that I have a peace about where I am, and where(ever) it is that I am heading - and that God in his wisdom and sovereignty continues to lead, guide and uphold me. At the end of the day that is all that really matters, eh?

I am coming to more fully understand and accept that peace comes as I learn to appreciate the memories that I have and not begrudge the ones that we did not have a chance to make.

And so this is the blog's last post. It shares some things with the more famous Last Post - the haunting and soulful bugler's call that signals that the day is done and the 'base' is secure - and is played at military funerals and remembrances to affirm that those who have died may rest in peace.

With this last post, the journey is done, we are secure, and both Sue, and we who live on, can rest in peace; the peace that surpasses all understanding.

It has been an honour and privilege. Thank you and Amen.