"Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." – Mary Oliver

A Little Introduction and a Chance to AMA

I guess a little introduction is in order. I’m Melissa. I live in Brighton, a beachside suburb of Melbourne, Australia. I have lived in Melbourne all my life and can’t imagine living anywhere else. I’m married to G, whom I met at university, and we have three adult children (H, our daughter, aged 25; S, our daughter, aged 23; and E, our son, who is about to turn 21). Our son still lives with us in our three bedroom apartment. We have a golden retriever called Riley. I have two sisters and a brother; G is also one of four. My parents live in a small coastal town about two hours’ drive from here, and we try to spend a decent chunk of time there each holiday.

Riley, our dog.

I have an insatiable curiosity about all sorts of things (my daughter, when explaining all my studies, tells people I like to learn things). When I was a teenager, my dad had a National Geographic subscription, and my brother and I read them cover to cover. I can still picture the shelves lined with yellow-spined National Geographic Magazines. I still like to read non-fiction on a wide range of topics. I started a double science/engineering degree at university but dropped the engineering part after my second year to pursue honours and a PhD in Chemistry. My thesis title was “A study of N-(pyridyl)-2-thiophene carboxamides and related compounds.” When asked, I generally describe it as inorganic chemistry with screening as possible anti-cancer drugs.

When I finally submitted it, I was pregnant with our daughter and, for obvious reasons, was very happy not to have a rewrite or be sent back to the bench like the person from our department who submitted theirs just before me. With pregnancy and breastfeeding taking up a lot of the next five years, there was not really any opportunity to pursue further research in Chemistry. My husband travelled extensively pre-pandemic, and I stayed home with the kids.

Once the kids were in primary school, I felt I needed something more, so I began some theological studies. That first semester, I googled “how to write an essay” but soon got into the swing of things and was encouraged to pursue further studies, which I did. I eventually ended up completing a Masters of Divinity. My minor thesis title for that was “Sounding the Trumpets in the Anthropocene,” so it was not quite as much of mouthful as my chemistry thesis.

Work-wise, once the kids were at primary school, I took on some of the finance roles in my husband’s business. We now have a finance manager, but I still look after payroll and AP. A few years ago, I transferred our server-based accounting and inventory systems to a cloud-based system, so I also fix errors, work out processing procedures, and write any new reports that are needed. I also did a six-month role as a campus pastor at our old church to fill-in for someone on maternity leave.

Other than family and work, church and running take up much of the time left. I came to faith and running relatively late in life: in my 20s and 40s, respectively. Currently, we attend a small church that is less than a ten-minute walk from us. G and I lead a small group, sometimes take the Sunday evening service, and I lead a pre-school ministry called mainly music. For running, we are involved in a very social running group that is almost as much about the social aspect as the running, although both are taken very seriously. I haven’t yet done a marathon; my preparation for my first one was derailed early this year by a stress fracture, but I have plans for next year.

I’m generally a very optimistic person, and you’ll see that this blog is mainly about good things. Despite all the chaos in our world, its beauty still manages to take my breath away on a regular basis. I enjoy reading, eating good food and wine, nature, spending time with friends and family, and travelling. I try to pay attention and notice “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable” (Philippians 4:8). That doesn’t preclude the occasional whinge or a rant.

Other things I like: indoor plants, a bath before bed, clean sheets, jigsaw puzzles, complete every X challenges, lists, body surfing, mid-20C weather, tennis, a good laugh, early 90’s club music, line drying my washing, good coffee (on pause due to migraines), leftovers, gin and tonic, clean feet.

If you have any questions for me? Fill in the AMA form, and I’ll answer what I can.

Do you have any overlap with my likes?


Comments

26 responses to “A Little Introduction and a Chance to AMA”

  1. I love that introduction post. I have known a few things already but learned quite a bit more. Thanks for that.
    Your chemistry thesis had my mind in knots though.

    I need to think about questions. I am really bad with coming up with those for the AMA. Always surprised what others asked.

    1. Same here re the questions.

  2. Very nice introduction post!

  3. Love the intro post. I knew some of these things because of your guest post, but didn’t actually realize your son still lived at home or that he was only 21 (for some reason he was much older in my imagination).

    I agree with you about mid-20s. I’d add to that mid-20s in the afternoon and low teens in the morning and evening. Perfection!

    As always, I remain amazed at your puzzle prowess!

    1. Yes, my baby is almost 21! (10 days to go). Maybe you thought he was older because he’s working not studying.

  4. This is a great intro, and I am glad you did it since although I have been reading your blog for a while, I don’t think I ever got the background story! I majored in Kinesiology and loved the idea of chemistry, but not all of the formulas involved, which is funny, as I am actually quite good at math and was in finance for about 20 years. Surprisingly, I loved O-Chem even though everyone dreaded it! It was one of my favorites (along with microbiology, anatomy and physiology).

    Early 90s club music! I am a little younger than you, but I do remember going to London in maybe ~1999/2000 and going to some super fun underground clubs and dancing the night away. I also drank A LOT of gin and tonics in those days. However, now I don’t love the taste of Juniper or the quinine in the tonic, and would rather have a vodka soda, a glass of Cab or an IPA.

    1. Gin and tonic was a later addition to my drinking repertoire. My clubbing days I mainly drank vodka based drinks.

  5. Yay! I love to ask nosy questions in an AMA!

  6. We do have some stuff in common! nature, wine, clean sheets and feet, and reading! Do you have a preference in wine or anything goes? I don’t know much about wine except, red, white and rose. 🙂

    1. I like dryer white wines and lighter red wines and also a nice dry rose from Provence. In Spain and the south of France where we started the Pyrenees we had this Rose that was almost the colour of red wine except that it was much mmore see through if that makes sense. It was delicious. Spain had a lot of good wine in the regions we were.

  7. Thank you for the introduction! Chemistry was one of my majors in highschool and I almost studied it but then did laboratory science instead.
    I think I am going to adopt your approach to looking for the beauty in life in the next couple of weeks. I sure can use some optimism currently.

    1. I know the world is a bit crazy right, but we can all contribute to making just the little circle around us a bit brighter.

  8. I always enjoy your blog posts, because you do look for the beauty in the world, yet you are not the type to bury your head in the sand and ignore things either. This was a great ‘re-introduction’ for those of us who have been here a while. <3

  9. Hi Melissa – I really enjoyed ‘meeting’ you. I have some things in common with you – NOT the multiple thesis or an interest in chemistry though. I also started running late in life. I think I was around 40. A social running club? Does that mean you talk while you run? I’d be unable to join as I get way too breathless. My older kids are in the same age range as yours. I also stayed home with them. Still do, sort of – although most of them are not home anymore. I run a daycare in my house for those who work a teacher’s schedule. Like you I’m very optimistic. I love lists, a good laugh, and leftovers. I don’t drink coffee. I dislike caffeine. Sorry about the stress fracture.

    1. By social running club I mean we spend almost as much time socialising together as running together … or maybe more time socialising. Groups of us go away together for destination events, gather at each other’s house, have breakfast after runs, go out for dinner after training sometimes etc. But we also talk when we are doing warm up/ cool down and easy runs together. I’m impressed that you run a daycare, I could not look after other people’s kids … mine were enough.

  10. I love this! I always learn new things about people, even when I’ve been reading them for a while. We definitely have running in common! I also have an adult son (21).
    I did NOT study chemistry, so your thesis sounds mind-boggling to me.
    Like Tobia, I’m bad at coming up with AMA questions. I’ll bet people have some good ones though!

    1. Yes, I struggle with questions too. I didn’t know your son was 21, although I suppose I could have worked that out.

  11. I’m fairly new to your blog so learned some new things! I didn’t know about your educational background. Very cool that you have a PhD and also a masters in a very different field of study!

    Like you, love puzzles but my husband doesn’t so I don’t work on many. The boys love puzzles so I hope they keep liking them so I have some help down the road and can work on 1,000+ piece puzzles with them! I’m also a runner but my marathon days are over. I had hip surgery in 2016 and am predisposed to have the same issue in the other hip. I could not or would not want to go through that again so I stick to 10 mile or shorter races for now. I was in a running club until I got married/started a family. I miss being part of a club!

    1. Puzzles are definately better with someone else. I’m sorry to hear about your hips, that’s a bummer. Being in a club is great and it’s fun competing in a team.

  12. Oh, I love reading Intro posts and finding out people’s backgrounds. It looks like you were heading for a life in chemistry and then, founded a family instead but yet, still managed to keep all your hobbies and studies. That’s amazing. I did study sciences for degree but then, followed up with a BA in English studies and, like you, love to delve into everything.

    And another big puzzle lover here, I have two 1,000 piece jigsaws ready to go, eh, when I finish my to read pile (40 books).

    1. Maybe you can alternate puzzle with book reading?

      1. Have you met me? Once I start a book I’m impossible, I need to finish it (unless, of course, it’s really really bad).

  13. Thank you for this reintroduction, Melissa. I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and knew quite a bit about you but this was a nice and concise summary 🙂

    You know that we share the love of running and traveling (although you do much more extensive traveling than I do and I live vicariously through you!).

    1. Well, I’m living vicariously through you with the running at the moment!

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