No glass half full for this boy.

But my son doesn't even notice the cloud.

He is the font of all wisdom, the soothsayer, and no glass is half full with him. All glasses are overflowing.

I was that person who would complete the school assignment days from receiving it then sit on it often for weeks before handing it in. While all around me I watched the stresses as other people worried about the work ahead, I sat back unaffected and smugly happy that my time was free.

Clearly my overflowing-glass boy did not pick up this trait. Quite conversely he brought the stress with him as he pulled an all-nighter to get his school and university assignments in by the next day. I would think about the practicalities of having a printer that had ink and references left unchecked. He would pause momentarily during this flurry to tell me that pressure makes diamonds. And you know what? He made some rather superb literary gems.

When he went to university, choosing a career in the arts over something potentially more practical, his response was simple.

"Everything I've done has led me to now," he said. "And today I am happy."

It's the dream of every parent to have a happy child and so he went off to his drama and his art and his music and today has made a formidable career using all of these skills.

During the Brisbane floods, his sharehouse was in the flood zone and while I was phoning to check on his evacuation status, he was calmly telling me that he was watching the flood waters on the other side of the road while drinking a coffee.

"Who's having the better day?" he asked. "The mother worrying about the floods or the man with the coffee?"

And now he needs two glasses to fill his happiness and his potential. Now he talks to me about priorities. He tells me that my priorities might be about having a house and money in the bank and a happy family.

While he just asks himself, "Have I played music today?"

And that for him is a good day.

I think I'm going to have to get him a third glass to fill. And while I'm opening that metaphoric cupboard, I might get out a second glass for me.