Maybe you are in a family where that has happened – or maybe you wish you had her contact details. I am sure googling “lost 30 hours” would help.

But we are not that family. We could not be. We were blessed with an autistic superhero – well she is now. I guess we had to focus on what we could achieve, day by day rather than have a well-ordered house and lifestyle. I think with God’s help and a lot of prayer we achieved a lot – a happy adult, living independently in open employment.

“Open employment” – that is disability community language for a job that’s not reserved for someone with a disability.

But today’s “everyday” point is that families are different to each other.

I am proud of my super hero. She’s great. But today’s “everyday” point is that families are different to each other. It’s good and necessary that they are different. But the same.

Different 1: I look around my Eternity team and they are all different. The dad working part time so he can co-parent. The mum who clearly holds up more than half the sky. And the very empty nester who has just left the Eternity nest.

Different 2: We have just moved house after 35 years and we are going through a “Marie Kondo” phase. We’ve downsized in space a little, moved one postcode, but left a LOT of possessions behind. I have left behind a house I really liked. We are different to what were were, possession-wise, a few weeks ago.

Same: So even the same family can live life differently over time. But the change has made me appreciate even more that the external circumstances of family life don’t matter all that much. That is the days and years left to me I should hold on to the important (people, Jesus and following him, grinding out whatever spiritual growth and Christ lines I can), and I can leave the other stuff behind.