Reboot

Chapter 15New horizons

It felt that both professionally and personally, the company and I had laid some important foundations. With my newly minted sense of ‘normal' inside my head, and the business having overcome some very serious barriers, it was time to step up yet again. The factory team was finally in a culturally sound environment and taking huge steps forward on our own production. There was a larger roster of suppliers to spread our risk, and our sales were growing. I'd found a daily rhythm that felt positive, and even joyful at times. And Michael and I had found a version of how we'd continue working together comfortably.

New partners join the equation

Shortly after our separation, Michael ended up moving out of the apartment building. But he stayed in the same suburb, so we created some (then serious, now funny) rules to try and make the situation as bearable as possible. Here's what they were (well, the ones I remember):

• If either of us got into a serious relationship, we'd make sure we told each other early on so we could deal with any emotions gracefully.
• Surry Hills has a lot of amazing restaurants and is a pretty great place to go on a date. Given we both lived in the area, it felt like it could be a minefield, so we loosely divided the neighbourhood into two areas so that we wouldn't run into each other on dates. He took from Cooper Street out towards Redfern, and I took the other side, from Kippax Street to the city. (No one wants to run into an ex on a ...