INGRID (ENGLISH VERSION)

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After the summer I decided to make a great change in my life. As I said before, Ingmar and I had invented a game, which was called Seize the Day and it had several levels, which we had to achieve. One of those levels, which I had to pass, was to complete some unfinished business, which I had started when I was 18 years old and I just gave up. And I'm referring to my first big dream ever, the one which I had since I was 5 years old: to become a geologist. I'd studied Geology for a semester until I left Norway. Never before had I thought that I'd complete something like that, but then I realised it was high time I finally achieved that. Whatsoever I am the kind of person who always starts something from the beginning, therefore achieving my first dream was something very important to me. Furthermore, the time was suitable, as I myself was going through a phase in my life, during which I used to teach science at school. Therefore educating myself further was a very positive step for me. Whatsoever I had to stop occupying myself only with Art. It had already caused me many problems. So I decided to go back to the University and take a Geology course. It'd last two years, that is from September 2027 to September 2029. Along with that, I would continue teaching at school.

I realised that Australia's education system wasn't the same as it used to be. The children now had a much lower educational background and this is something I noticed both in my students and Anna's school. Many children had a low educational background and sometimes it was quite hard for them to make them distinguish between terms such as science and faith. Some teachers would even confuse these two. I can refer to a specific example from my daughter's school. Anna, who had just started Junior High School, had talked to me about some incidents at her Biology class at school. Since the beginning of the semester, their teacher had told her students she wasn't going to teach the whole book, but omit some chapters, as some of its theories were wrong. At some point in the lesson, the children were taught about the classification of the species. The teacher, who was a biologist (I highlight this) pointed out to the children that dinosaurs lived alongside the human species. My daughter was aware of fossils and the geological time, because not only had we talked about it together, but she had also read that in her books. Then she dared to tell her teacher that we cannot find fossils in the wrong geological time because this cancels out the theory of evolution itself. Her teacher went mad and started saying that the theory of evolution is just a theory, belongs to the past and we shouldn't talk about it anymore. And this was something that a biologist used to say to children in a school! I suggested that Anna asks her teacher about how she thought that species were evolved...or better appeared or developed (if you don't fancy the word evolution), but she didn't want to get into a fight with her. This thing was unbelievable. Teachers are highly responsible for how children develop their conscience. They can't just try and persuade them, in such a vulnerable age, that facts which are proved and we have evidence for, that they are just some theories. Fortunately, Anna comes from a family, which isn't that credulous and of course, Ingmar and I educate ourselves a lot and are real bookworms.

Time was going by and I was getting better and better. And for the first time in my life, I was feeling I started to have a balanced family life. I was spending time with my family, playing games, talking, going on trips, watching movies...we use to do everything. Christmas, 2027, was the best Christmas of my life, even though for the first time ever we experienced it in the summer. The only sad thing was that for the first time we were without dad. The most important achievement of mine, though, was that I wasn't absent anymore. All my life I felt I was completely absent, like being here without being really here. My body was present and my mind was absent. And I believed this would harm my child, as she would grow up without the presence of a mother. But things had changed. I was there and I was so happy to have my daughter, Anna.

In early 2028 the band started a new tour. I was glad of them to follow my advice and temporarily continue without me. Johanna was in lead vocals, who was also playing the acoustic guitar. And they could do without me so perfectly, so why were they complaining that I am the band? Johanna had one of the most beautiful and purer voices I'd ever heard. And furthermore, we could combine acoustic elements much better. Whatsoever acoustic folk music was the genre which I liked most of all. The band was completely acoustic when it started and also my own compositions mainly are based on acoustic music. For those who don't know it, Bryan is the one who snatches me away from it, otherwise, all of my compositions would be acoustic. But he is the one at the end of the day, who always tells me to put something more complex on it. So, I don't understand why Johanna couldn't replace me at all. I wouldn't be gone forever anyway.