Prince Charming isn’t everything

“LIFE WAS SWEET AND SIMPLE THEN AND I WANTED THAT FOR MY KIDS.”

Iam missing our two daughters, both of whom are currently in different countries. We talk every day but I just wish I could give them a big hug, sit and laugh and talk, have them hang around with us and their brother here at home and wonder what’s for dinner. We could talk about things in the news, on TV, even MiNDFOOD (which they all get tired of hearing about). I miss those basic conversations that families have when they are together.

It doesn’t seem like international borders are going to return to normal any time soon with COVID-19 outbreaks still happening and much discussion of airlines laying more people off and aircraft being stored away. I can’t help but think family time could be a little further away than we all wish. It’s made me realise that in the future I want us all to live in the same city, or at least close enough that international travel isn’t required. This may be a pipe dream but I would like us to be part of each other’s lives again, rather than just communicating by phone or video chat.

I guess once you have children they grow up and find their own way in life. That doesn’t always mean living in the same city. But, at this time, I really wish we all did. I am even missing being ridiculed for telling Dad jokes, which I like to repeat until I get a reaction even though no-one ever finds them funny.

My brother, Pete, sent me the photo above, of me in my first year at school. It was captioned, ‘And now for the world news’. It made me smile as I sent it to my kids, reflecting on how, as parents, we start such a legacy and have such high hopes and dreams for our children. I remember being so proud going to ‘big school’ where, unbelievably, when the bell rang, you got to go outside and play. I loved drawing and playing with the blocks and I remember being cast as Prince Charming in the class play. Life was sweet, uncomplicated and simple. In lots of ways I wanted that for my kids and for them to become strong, independent thinkers who were kind and experienced a great life.

When putting together this issue, we wanted to give you, the readers, a magazine full of interesting, stimulating and inspiring articles and images to enjoy. Of course, that is always the case with every issue of MiNDFOOD but I feel that right now, it is especially important. With many of you working from home, or working less than before, with fewer options for seeing family, friends and work colleagues, we need to be forming other connections – online, in our local neigbourhood or through the pages of our magazine.

So many of you wrote to me, happy that we had featured Sir David Attenborough in our last issue, as his global significance and popularity really does spread the world over. This issue, we have featured Elizabeth Debicki, a fiercely talented young actor, who calls Australia home and is now sharing her considerable talents with the world. Her work ethic and positive attitude is inspiring. We also wanted to pay tribute to our great land, with features on native bush cooking, a groundbreaking Indigenous fashion exhibition, Australian beauty companies to be celebrated, artists Neil Frazer and Adrienne Doig, and travel stories that focus on quintessentially Aussie destinations like Kakadu National Park and Bathurst.

Reading about I Am Woman star Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who is currently LA-based but missing her family back in Adelaide, got me thinking. When all is said and done, we can be as clever as anything, or as successful in our careers as our bank balance shows, but, at the end of the day, it’s those close relationships with the ones you love the most that are the most important things in life. So, as I wait for things to improve and travel to become easier, I have to be content with daily phone calls and screen-time discussions with my girls. Thinking back, I was happy to be Prince Charming at the age of five, but the role of Dad is by far the best. I just wish I could hug them and tell them that in person.

Michael McHugh

Editor-in-chief michael@mindfood.com Instagram@mindfoodmike