Sometimes Busy Is Good

Following a sleepless night last night, it’s been good to keep busy today “ not having too much chance to stop has meant no time to reflect on lost friends, and thoughts that I might be able to make ammends one day. First thing this morning found me walking the mile or so into town with two of our children to buy birthday presents for upcoming parties they have been invited to, and to get food. On the way, Little Miss 7 asked “can we go the big park?”. I nodded, and she began skipping, and clapping her hands “ making me feel really guilty about the times I have said no in the past. The next hour was spent wandering from swings, to climbing frames, to slides, and back again as little voices shouted “Dad! Dad! look at me!”. Eventually the time came to leave (after prying Little Miss 7 from a climbing frame that she seemed to be planning on taking home with her, judging by her death grip on it), and we made our way to the toy shop. “Can we buy a toy?” “No. We’re getting birthday presents for other people, aren’t we, like we talked about this morning, remember?” “Oh yes.” (like hell did she not remember) The next half hour was spent walking slowly up and down the aisles of the toy shop, saying “no, that’s too expensive”, or “no, we’re getting something for a little boy “ not for you”. Eventually I took matters into my own hands, and chose two things inside 30 seconds. Hopefully they will go down well with their respective audiences. Next stop supermarket “ food for lunch, and something to make breakfast cereal from for our eldest. Our eldest daughter is coeliac, meaning she can’t eat anything with gluten in. You might infer that her meal options are limited “ the reality is she has a much better diet than you or I “ she gets more money spent on her food, because we naturally try to compensate for her not having the same choices. I wandered into the local health shop (because our supermarket is rubbish), with arms already weighed down with toys and groceries, and walked straight into a lecture with the owner about making gluten free pancakes. I half listened for a couple of minutes while trying to figure out a way of telling her all I wanted was cereals and dried fruit; Little Miss 10 would be making it herself, and we really didn’t want to cause a loud of washing up every day. Of course I just kept quiet, and let her yabber on at us. Finally, we trudged home “ or rather, I trudged, weighed down with armfulls of shopping, while the children ran around like crazed lunatics. Again, this was completely my fault “ I bought them smoothies while in town, which charged them up to 11 out of 10. Turning the corner for home, I learned my worth as their father. We live on the corner of a green, with a children’s playpark in the center. Cue immediate desertion of the children, leaving me to walk the remainder of the way home on my own. Exactly the same thing happened later in the day when I took them to the corner shop to buy comics (yep, today was “spoil the kids day”). On the way home, comics and chocolate bars in hand, all three of the children this time deserted me when we got to the playpark. I walked back across the green alone again It’s been a good day though. A day to remember what is important. At the moment important is a little girl at the top of a really very tall climbing frame shouting “Dad!, Dad!, Look at me!”