The Five Ws

I get a lot of questions about this blog these days so it seems wise to cover some of the basics. In journalistic terms we call ‘the who, what, when, where, and why,’ the five Ws.

Who is me, Mark Frost, and my little brother Cosmo, the whippet. We are inseparable friends and we are integral to each other’s story.

What, is this blog called Wonky. It is a collection of writings about resilience. It is a self-help blog insofar as it is me trying to help myself understand and learn from my recent experiences of both catastrophic loss and resilience in the face of it. If it resonates with others to the point it helps them, then that is an added bonus. And if it resonates with you, please comment and let me know.

When is since November 2018. Cosmo and I finally found a home after losing ours to a lava flow in early June, 2018. Wonky will carry on until the words and readers no longer come.

Where is England via Italy. I landed in Italy four months after losing my home in Hawaii to a volcanic eruption in June, 2018. I moved into my rustic farm in Tuscany, northeast of Florence near the village of Vicchio. It is a property I bought in 1999 but never lived in fulltime. But with the loss of Kipuka in Hawaii, it was the only place I could call home. Cosmo and I were incredibly fortunate to have this place as it gives us that long sought after feeling of being home. We needed it more than ever before. But now, due to personal circumstances and Brexit, we are back in England, starting again to find and build a home.

Why is the most important of the Ws and deserves some attention. In 2014 I lost my wife Larissa to cancer. I’ve been trying to pull myself through the bereavement experience ever since with some success and some failure. In 2018 I then lost my home and with it my livelihood and most of my life savings. Shortly thereafter I lost my nearest and dearest relationship since the loss of Larissa. This loss could not be blamed on cancer or a natural disaster — it was entirely of my own doing. I had unlearned how to be a good man. So Wonky is also my way to unveil these Ws piece by piece and understand them to such a degree that I can learn from them and move forward in a better way. Part of this learning is so that I can help others write their own resilience stories.