Some of you might know straight away what this picture is about, but let me set the scene first.

First, you need to know our bedroom is off the dining room so is in full view of anyone who comes in and out of our house and I like to keep it neat and tidy because it is so visible. I would anyway - the bedroom is an important part of any marriage but that’s not the point of this story.

We have a friend who’s been coming to our home for several years. He’s my husband’s riding buddy and they love to go mountain biking often. So Dave is often here on Saturday mornings before I’ve gotten any housework done and later that day when he brings Graham back home. Sometimes he pops in during the week too and when our youngest was going out with his eldest it was even more frequently as he picked up Angie or dropped Ben off. Since Ange and Ben married, the number of visits have lessened.

It’s convenient too that Dave’s parents live less than 5 mins away from us which is why Dave did a lot of the running around - we weren’t being lazy, just so you know. It was more a matter of convenience for him.

Anyway, one day some months ago Dave asked a question which, once asked, had obviously been on his mind for a long time and he must have been plucking up the courage to ask it. He wanted to know why we had all those teddies lined up on our bed?

Graham and I glanced at each other, grinned and responded ‘for the cats, of course!’ Then we had to explain because David doesn’t own any cats, he’s a dog man, although he’s become attached to our cats since he’s been visiting, particularly the youngest one who loves to play rough - perhaps like his dog!

Anyway, the cats love to lean up against things when they’re sleeping so the teddies stop the cats from leaning against our pillows and leaving their fur there. It was a good use of gifts we’d accumulated over the years. If David was a blushing man I expect he might have blushed then but now he knows the answer to a question that was evidently on his mind for a long time

I underwent some minor surgery a few days ago when having 2 wisdom teeth removed. Unless you’ve actually undergone this as surgery, rather than in the dental chair, you’ll have little appreciation of what is really experienced.

There were 8 other patients the same afternoon as me and it would appear we were all to suffer the same fate. The waiting was the worst part. Those who know me know I don’t sit still very long - I’m always on the go. I did take a book in with me and read that for 2 hours and then had to endure another wait in another room of around 45 mins whilst they prepped me and finally came and got me to undergo the small op.

One of the last things I remember was telling the guy who was hooking me up to the heart machine about the time my hubby was hooked up to a machine in 2001 when he’d come off his bike and broken some ribs. Every time I touched his hand his heart rate went up. Our kids had thought it was ‘cute’ at that stage. The guy asked me if that would occur if hubby was there with me right now and I said ‘you bet!’

The surgeon came in and said ‘hello Mrs Thomas, how are you?’ Silly question. My answer was ‘hungry and bored’ and he just smiled. What else do you expect? I’d not eaten a thing since 8.30 in the morning and here it was after 4.30pm or something and I’d been lying on a bed in a room waiting for someone to come get me and didn’t even have my book with me for that past half hour or more.

Anyway, hubby’s face looked funny when he came to get me sometime later. Think it might have had something to do with the pack tied around my head. I mean, not very becoming, is it? A long ice pack wrapped in cloth and tied around your head. And then to be told you can’t eat any solids for several days, only mushy stuff. mmm, jelly and icecream would be ok if I were a kid but I’m not anymore. And I actually enjoy decent food. But right at that moment I couldn’t even have a drink without dribbling down the side of my mouth. Not very becoming at all.

Well, this is my 4th night home now. Still on the antibiotics and the pain killers. And I can’t eat anything that is hard or has seeds in it so it doesn’t dig into the pockets in my gums where that bit’o'wisdom used to sit. I had to find things at the supermarket you could add hot water too and mix up so that it resembled edible food. At least it doesn’t look like baby food and it does have flavour. The thing I miss the most at the moment is being able to bite into a good solid piece of chocolate. But my daughter did tell me about Paul’s chocolate mousse and I can savour that! After all, having something cold and soothing on the gums is just what the doctor recommended!

Just heard this listening to Brian Houston at Hillsong Church on Australian Christian Channel TV today.

I recently had dental surgery and am still recovering so elected to stay home this morning instead of being on duty at church. I watched a number of programs on the TV channel on my laptop so I could sit here in my office which really is one of the most comfortable rooms in my house. Sad, hey?

Not really - I just love being here in the office, it’s warm (or cool when the weather is hot), comfortable, familiar and I have everything I need around me.

So, anyway, back to Brian Houston’s comment. You’re only as happy as your saddest child. What an interesting comment that is – he’d heard someone else say it and shared it with his audience. Makes you stop and think, doesn’t it?

How happy are your children? And is there anything you can do to improve their state of mind?Whilst our kids are young we have a lot of input in their lives but as they grow older and the external influences increase, our own influence on their lives changes considerably. This can be quite scary - especially if you haven’t put the foundations in, whilst they were young.

Perhaps whilst they are still young we need to concentrate more on helping them have a happy outlook on life which should set a pattern for them as they grow older. Learning to choose to be happy even when surrounding circumstances are out of our control.

Which leaves me to ask you a simple question. How happy are you?