I’m not entirely sure where the weekend has gone. I had plans to touch base with friends, to go for a run, to buy some music - to do so many things. I did nothing. Actually that’s not entirely true - I accompanied my other half to several garden centres (we now have a huge plant in the living room that was not there before), and carried on with the usual chores - but not much else.
If my life was a bicycle, it feels like the chain might have come off a few turns back. The longer I sit here at the side of the road, not really trying to put the chain back on, the harder it seems to do so.
Maybe it’s good to step away from life sometimes though - to just “be”.
We played Monopoly on Friday evening. Our youngest daughter has been going through a tough time recently and wanted to take a break from “the socials”. We came together around her and indulged her request for a board game night. I think it’s the first time we’ve all stayed the course with Monopoly. When we looked up at the end of the game (won in landslide fashion by our eldest daughter) the entire evening had gone, and then some. One game, five hours, lots of laughter, and mercifully few arguments were had. We pretty much cleared the house of snacks too.
Our eldest finally seems to be “on her way”. After several false starts, life is opening up in front of her - with new friends, new places to be, and (hopefully) a pretty huge slice of happiness. She’s been through it over the past several years. It’s nice to see her smiling, laughing, and positive about the future.
Our middle girl often gets overlooked - and yet she’s the one person that everybody in the family orbits around. She’s turning corners too - losing weight, getting fit, working hard, and playing hard too. She plays for local rugby and hockey teams, and while we sometimes complain about standing in the cold to watch her, we’re hugely proud. She’s often comes across as being somewhat indestructible - a force of nature - but she’s really not. It’s all a front. And that’s why we all have her back.
Outside of the kids, myself and my other half have been spread pretty thin recently. We bought ourselves membership of the new cinema in town, and have been trying to escape at least one night a week for the past several weeks. We almost went this evening - they were showing “Pretty in Pink” as a “throwback” movie - it’s one of my favourite movies.
Anyway.
I’m waffling again.
I wonder if we have any hot chocolate left?