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For better or worse we all have life changing moments but the ones that we look back on with fondness are those that have subsequently brightened our lives or set us on a path that we had always wanted to follow but somehow never quite reached, until that moment. In my case there has been three such life changing moments.

In fact the first of these moments occurred three times. At 2am on a cold and icy morning in November thirty years ago I received the phone call. I had only gone home to change. Needing a hot kettle to clear the ice from the car windows, I rushed out and, leaving the kettle standing on the driveway forlorn, raced as fast as I dared through the sleeping streets of Huntingdon, a small town near Cambridge, UK. One hour later I was holding him in my arms, my first born son. Suddenly, in that split second, I had become a father. In that moment I experienced for the first time the love that only a parent can feel for a child, a love that has remained in my heart every since.

Over the next decade I experienced this moment twice more with a daughter and another son. There is nothing to compare emotionally with these moments because they are special and intimate, shared only between the parent and child.

My second life changing moment was one of deep sadness, yet in hindsight one that has stayed with me and had an impact on my life ever since. Again it was a cold day, this time in January 1979. The phone call I received is still the worst that I have ever experienced. Less than an hour later I was at a hospital bedside. For some inexplicable reason none of the rest of my family wanted to be there so I sat alone beside the bed. I have never prayed so hard in my life. I reached out and held my father's hand as he lay dying, praying to God to not let him leave me but with a gentle, soft squeeze of my hand he passed away. I felt a loss and loneliness, the depth of which I cannot describe. However, within a few hours I felt this presence inside me. Crazy as it might sound I knew it was dad. Ever since that day, especially when times are tough, he has always been there, lifting my spirit, helping me through to the good times again.

The last of the three life changing moments for me occurred on Friday the 3rd February 2006 at just after 12:05pm. This was the moment that I became a member of the online writing site Helium.com. At that time I had no way of knowing the myriad of future opportunities that this step was to open for me in the future

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