And I have numbered things below which I shall call blessings,because that's what they felt like, small things but the sum of their parts added up to making me feel a bit less fragile.
We went for a walk on Saturday & I took deep draughts of Vitamin D. It felt good. Warm sun on the face, muscles unclenched, bones thawed. Wonderful.
Our P.E teacher friend, who has made our place his second home, asked us to supper on Friday. I was touched. We have people for meals a lot, to make friends, be hospitable. We rarely get asked back.
Then on Saturday the children came into our bed for stories. They started doing this a few wks ago, but before that they hadn't done it for months & months. We thought that little 'season' had passed too. My husband has been reading 'Wind in the Willows' to our daughter & our (now 9 yr old) son comes along because he can never resist a story, whatever it is. We read from an edition illustrated by Inga Moore. My husband's granny's cousin (does that make it his great cousin??) was Ernest Shephard who illustrated the original "Wind in the Willows", so we felt rather guilty betraying the family connection, but Moore's illustrations are just gorgeous.
So there we all were four in bed, husband reading in his soothing narrator voice, stopping every so often to explain what was going on, as the language is complex & the sentences long; passing over to me to explain the longer words, (not his forte & you'd be surprised at the words in the text), our son saying 'come on read the next bit' & our daughter busy playing with my hair & stroking my cheek. For her, stories are about cuddles, she usually tunes out, especially with the difficult language in it. She tries, but she hasn't got the world's greatets attention span.
When we finally finished Dad says, "So what did you think of that 5 y-o?"
She said "It made my brain go all twirly." Oh well, that great classic confined to family posterity as the book that makes children's brains go 'twirly'.
Sunday was "Summer Day" in Albania - a really big holiday & the sunniest day of the year so far. A friend who has lived here over 10 yrs said it is ALWAYS sunny on Summer Day. The 1st day of summer (in theory).
It was also Mother's Day in England. I am always so thankful that 10 yrs on I now AM a mother twice over & can celebrate the fact. My daughter made me a huge cardboard banner saying "I 'heart' u mummy" & my son made me a cross stitch book mark which said "I 'heart u, M". He didn't have time to write more, he said.
His class do cross stitch whilst listening to their class reader which seems quite a soothing idea & gives them something to do. Of course I had to feign amnesia (let's face it, not a trick I find difficult) as only the day before I had had to iron, for my daughter, a random selection of Hamma bead letters an "I", a heart, a 2 "Us" 3 "Ms" , & a "Y" , whilst under strict instructions not to look at what I was doing.
My husband took us all out to lunch. Always a treat.
My sister booked her ticket to come out & visit in May- the 1st member of my family in 4 yrs abroad to come & visit. I realise I don't live in very appealing places so I don't blame them.
My tennis friend phoned & asked if I wd like to play tennis this morning before she goes back to Italy on Wed for more test following her surgery a month ago. It is also good I have time on my hands as it meant I could go out for coffee with her afew wks ago - for 3 hours, after her surgery to talk to her. That to me is a good use of time. She needed a listening ear, I had the time to spend with her.
7 comments:
Good post! I am going to use the phrase about the "twirly brain" as often as possible as it's very apt!
Have very twirly brain today and as a result have done bugger all work in the office.
But on upside read your post which is uplifting!
LCM x
This post made me smile. I always think that it's these little things we'll remember when we're old and we have time to just sit and think. I'm glad the sun came out for you - send some our way!
Glad you're feeling better! I find this mother at home thing to be a very up-and-down pursuit as well.
Im glad you're feeling better. I find that I often the next day is better. I dont know if its tiredness, hormones or hormones caused by tiredness or whatever. A good night sleep often helps.
But not always. It is this thing about being a stay at home mum, and probably made more noticeable being an expat. My hubby goes off saving the world every day and running all kinds of wonderful and amazing projects and what do I do? Clear drains, plant flowers, write articles, make dinner, collect kids, try to exercise, run errands... ho-hum. Sometimes it really gets to me, but other times I realise that the freedom I have is wonderful because I can be around for my kids in case they do need me, I can pursue different interests, I can be mire relaxed for when hubby comes home and we can enjoy our time together better, and so on.
You're not alone: isn't the internet wonderful?! x
Thank you, this post really cheered me up. Last week, after reading your other post, I went into a slump of my own (don't worry--I'm not blaming it on your post). But, as Michelloui said, I think it goes with the territory of being a stay-at-home mum. Sometimes I feel like an old shoe and feel like crying for no reason. It's a difficult thing to explain to husbands because they have to go to work and they think we're the lucky ones.
Glad you're feeling better. We are in the limbo period...do we stay or do we go and if we go where do we go to...which makes hearing other peoples more definate plans hard. It also reinforces the loss of my identity as an individual since (while he likes to say its a family decision) it is really my husbands choice where we go because its linked to his career. This time round the decision is made more complicated by the fact that our youngest is about to go into his last two years of school- the diploma years in the IB system and it is better if they are done at the same school. J is sick of the corruption in the country and how it impacts on his job, the long all consuming hours (which arent really going to change since thats him rather than the job)and the expats behaving badly at work and doesnt think he can do another two years which is a damn shame as even he sees this school M is at here is the best fit he has had his entire schooling career. I find myself advocating for M but feeling for J and losing me...its an expat trailing spouse thing I think and according to Oprah (who I havent seen for years now) a mum thing too but it doesnt make it any less difficult. Anyway I hear you and Im with you and these things shall pass...as you have already discovered (or been reminded).
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