Simply Me: A Life lived
AUTHOR'S NOTE
This book was not written to justify, excuse, or reframe the past.
It was written to record it honestly.
Much of what follows will be uncomfortable for some readers. Some events will raise questions. Others may provoke disagreement or judgement. I have tried not to soften that. Life, as I experienced it, was rarely neat, and rarely kind enough to offer simple explanations.
Where I have made mistakes, they are mine.
Where others were affected by my actions, that responsibility sits with me. I have avoided blaming circumstance, background, or reputation, even where those things undoubtedly played a role. Understanding context is not the same as avoiding accountability.
This book is also not a complete record of every event, person, or consequence. Memory is imperfect, perspective changes with time, and some details belong to others as much as they belong to me. Where that is the case, I have erred on the side of restraint.
If there is a single theme that runs through these pages, it is awareness - not as an endpoint, but as a process. The slow, sometimes painful recognition of patterns, behaviours, and choices, and the effort required to live differently once those patterns are seen.
This book is written first and foremost for my family.
For my daughters, so they understand the full shape of the man who raised them - not just the version they saw.
For my grandchildren, so they know where they come from, and that people are rarely only one thing.
And for Christine, who lived through much of this with me, stood firm when needed, and walked away when it was the only way I could begin to change.
If others choose to read this, I hope it is read in the spirit it was written - not as a search for heroes or villains, but as an honest account of a life lived imperfectly, and examined late, but sincerely.
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