Back in the mid 2000’s I was heavily involved with leading Forge in both WA and Oz, which meant that we regularly had some very interesting and gifted people come and stay in our home. One of our favourite regulars was a bloke Darryl Gardiner, a kiwi who was the director of YFC in NZ and previously had been the boss of a home for boys – so he wasn’t a soft touch.

We always enjoyed having Darryl come as he’d remember the kid’s names, remember details about family life, and you could tell he cared about who you were. But on one trip he got a little closer to our family than he had bargained for.

Sam was 2 or 3 at the time and in typical project home configuration of that era we had built our parent’s bedroom at the front of the house while the kids rooms and the guest room was at the back of the house. It meant tha there could be up to 4 closed doors between us and the kids, which did mean that if they needed us they had to yell loud.

We rarely closed all the doors, because Sam was still of the age where he needed someone to come and wipe his bottom. Inevitably once or twice a week we would hear this little voice ring thru the house… ‘hey muuuuum… can you please come and wipe my bottom?…’

(My name wasn’t ‘mum’ so obviously it didn’t concern me

However on the night Darryl stayed with us we couldn’t hear Sam yelling and calling for us. So being the youth leader from way back that he is Darryl stepped up to the job, sorted him out and sent him back to bed.

We found out the next day and it has been the subject of jokes ever since. ‘One day we are gonna introduce you to the bloke who has really met you up close and personal.’ Sam and Darryl never did get to meet as adults, but I know it would have been a fun conversation