I love randomly running into my sister at the coffee shop, on the street, in the park …

It used to be pretty standard – people stayed closer to their families as they moved into adulthood – but it feels like a lovely privilege to live in the same neighbourhood as my sibling.

I was walking the dogs before dinner when she appeared with one of her schnauzers. It turns out the other one was at the vet because he’s listless and off his tucker. The vet bill was already up to $600 on day one. Ouch.

We took a twirl around the park together, then I met a school mum walking her black ball of fluff … and another chat launched.

The last pink rays of sunset were fading as I headed home to make oven-baked fish and chips for dinner. And the world felt like a pretty nice place to inhabit.

Running into family and friends, having two fur babies … and two non-furry babies … who love me, making dinner for them in a house that’s finally beginning to look like a proper home, listening to the eldest loudly play retro songs in the kitchen as I cleaned up afterwards – everything from Bowie to Toto’s Africa and Wham’s Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go …

There’s so much happiness in those little things and it feels like I’m finally relaxing enough to enjoy them properly.

So many years were spent worrying that I wasn’t “good enough” at parenting and work and everything else in between.

Oh, I still falter constantly. I was so panicked after a recent dinner with DD’s friends, my chest was tight as a drum from the social tap dance.

But last night I felt contentment and peace.

Song of the day: Toto “Africa”