With the children on half term, and the house seemingly running on autopilot at the moment, something quite unexpected happened this morning - I found myself with a couple of minutes to myself.
I was up, washed, dressed, bag packed for work, coffee in hand, and sat in our study. I could hear the kids waging war upstairs, and the catflap clanking back and forth periodically.
After sitting for some time, sipping my drink and staring at the wall, it occurred to me that this was a good thing to do. Doing “nothing at all” isn’t something I find easy, and it dawned on me while sat there that I should do it more often - or at least make time to do the “normal” things more often.
Watch a movie, listen to some music, play a board game… apart from the latter, I can’t remember the last time I just sat down to watch a movie from start to finish without being distracted by something else - or sat and really listened to a piece of music.
Our eldest daughter has learned to play chess, and will invariably agree to a game if the option is presented. I gave her a game at bedtime the other night, and was seriously impressed - realising halfway through the game that I wasn’t doing the normal parent thing - trying to guide the game towards a draw - I was having to fight.
It’s easy to forget in this era of television, DVDs and video games that board games are more rewarding. You get to make judgements based on a real person you can see sat across the board from you. You see the result of your winning (and their losing).
Anyway - this morning, while sat staring into space with my cup of coffee, all seemed to be alright with the world. I was happy.