The week the school pulled a blinder and invited Tilly back. It’s three days a week for a month. She might get twelve days, which is a huge gift for both of us.
Can you tell how excited she is? It’s not a great photo, but we got there early and I said “oh look, the gate’s not even open yet we could sit in the car and chat for a bit?”
“Nope, wanna go school” she said as she grabbed her bag and got out of the car.
Company of her own age has been the key thing I just couldn’t provide. Being the only child of an only parent has its upsides, but variety of company has not been one of them!
I started Monday morning feeling a bit lost, having ridden the rollercoaster the previous week that had ended in having to close the school for the foreseeable due to the flood damage. When the landline rang beside me, I assumed it was my parents – nobody else uses landlines, do they?! To my utter amazement it was the headteacher calling to invite Tils to join the keyworker bubble if she’d like to, starting the following morning.
When I told her, the entire house felt lighter. She was so excited.
We went to see my parents that afternoon, knowing that we wouldn’t be able to hang out with them again for several weeks. It was a lovely little tea party affair, with our baked biscuits poured into a box from their kitchen before they sampled, and bottles of ginger beer to avoid any potential cross contamination from putting glasses in the dishwasher. At times it felt just like the pandemic had never happened, and we were just hanging out in the garden. It was like exhaling.
Tuesday morning came around quickly, and the old bustle of making her packed lunch was added to by the list of things she should and should not take with her. She was covered in sun cream, sun cream and sun hat in the bag, along with raincoat. Bag to be a plastic bag, no school bags. I kept looking at her and wondering if she was nervous behind the grin. I needn’t have worried.
That first day I felt like a I wasted a lot of time, because I have vast quantities of business development things that need doing, and being blessed with a few child-free days should make them easier to tackle… Somehow what I really needed though was to decompress. It was too hot to spend a lot of time outside, but I took my time hanging the washing out and did some clearing up that never seems to get done when a new project is being started every half hour.
And before I knew it the morning had passed and it was time to take Bindi to the vet for her jabs. There wasn’t enough time to get home and be useful before pick up time, so I did things that were useful but felt alien. I bought archive boxes from Argos so that I could clear old paperwork out of my study. I went into B&M looking for something else and came out with a sun chair that has its own parasol, because that is what happens when you go into B&M. A quick visit to a food shop for ice creams and we were ready.
Sure enough, she was hot and tired when I collected her from the gate, but the ice cream cheered her up. I let her do my hair – I hate my hair being played with, so this is a very rare occurrence – and we reconnected. To be apart for even six hours after nearly fourteen weeks of one on one togetherness was strange.
It felt good to pick up our habit of dog walking around the side roads again. It injected some of our normality into a day that had been very different for both of us.
We went after tea time so that it was cool enough for the dogs to enjoy it, and it felt like a huge treat for her.
There has been more random crafting, from cut up balloons to make outfits for Sylvanian characters to things stuck together with vast quantities of PVA glue. A new Barbie house is under her bed – if I got to play with archive boxes, she wanted one too.
On her other school days, I sat down to do structural edits on my book. My coach Jessica was absolutely right when she said that the edit process is enough to make you hate your book so much you wonder why you ever started. I’d say it’s akin to root canal for hours on end… but it needs to be done and I’m sure the book will be better for it.
It also catalysed a new round of procrasti-snacking, so baking over the weekend became a priority. I made another round of the ginger biscotti for my parents, and some ANZACs for us. The bottom blobs are how they go in, and the huge cookies on the top is how they come out. A bit like me in lockdown lol
Who else has taken up baking and not done enough extra exercise to remain unaffected? Pretty much everyone I know..?
Our new normal, for the next few weeks anyway, is sitting well with both of us. And the dogs are loving going back to the woods.
How was your week? Xx
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