Caroline Perryman rang me about a restaurant.
She was chasing a story about the Reef Restaurant at Terrigal, because of our old magazine. Somehow we got onto Eden. Ten minutes later we were still talking.
At the end she said she’d love to get me on to talk about it.
I said, talk about what?
She said, your son. I think people should hear it.
So on a Monday morning in November 2023, Michelle and I sat in the ABC studio and talked about Eden for nineteen minutes.
The sleepWe talked about the six years when he slept one night in seven.
The creekWe talked about the day he got out of the house. I lost two brothers to drowning when they were young, and Eden loves water, so I ran for the creek. I heard his voice coming through the pipes under the road. He was treading water with his blankie around his neck, looking up at me. Smiling.
The hugMichelle talked about the hug. Eden was eleven, and he’d just learned he could put his arms around us.
The buildersAnd I told her about the builders. It took us two weeks to get Eden onto the school bus. He’s very sensitive to noise, and there was a building site across the road. So I went over and asked them if they’d mind downing tools.
For about four months, every morning that he’d walk out to that bus, they’d put their tools down, wait till he got on the bus. It brings a tear to my eye now.
Tim, on ABC Central Coast Breakfast, 6 November 2023
Press play. Nineteen minutes.
Then Caroline asked what I was planning to do with all of this. I said I’d love to make a documentary. I said I wanted to start as soon as possible.
That was nearly three years ago.
I didn’t start. I’d sit down to write and couldn’t put one thought in front of another. It took me a long time to work out why. I wasn’t ready to go back through it.
I am now.
This is that interview. Right at the end, Caroline says she has tears in her eyes.
Have a listen, then have a look around. This is the thing I said I’d make.
