Time for sun...down

I never thought the paper with its notorious third page would bring so much joy to my son (at age six!). This week The Sun joined forces with Lego, heralding a daily coupon within its pages for a free Lego figure. For a mere 30p a day I’ve become my son’s hero. ‘THANKS mum!’ he said with a huge grin when I nonchalantly pulled the first one from my bag.

Toting day two’s figure and paper, I set off from the shop to the street where I was to deliver Christian Aid envelopes, perusing the instruction leaflet en route. A ruler was one of the handy things it listed to bring along when delivering envelopes. I didn’t have one. As I tried to stuff an envelope through the first door’s slot, I had visions of my friend who recently had his finger bitten off by a dog when delivering leaflets. The Sun shone again as, folded up, it became the perfect tool for the task.

The real sun rarely shines in Buxton. So a couple of weeks ago my husband and I soaked it in while we were in Israel. On our first day we made the trip from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in an un-air-conditioned sherut, a shared taxi reminiscent of the mashrutka we used in Russia. As it was Friday, we knew that as the sun began to set everything would start shutting down for the beginning of Shabbat. Friday evening is the time to spend with one’s family.

We’ve designated Friday nights as family night, a night to embrace that great feeling of knowing the day-to-day grind has started to ease for awhile. Supper isn’t rushed and is often prepared with cocktail in hand and tunes blaring. After the plates are cleared we may play a hand or two of Uno. And the night usually ends with a video and the de rigueur bowl of popcorn.

I’ve never been great at observing Sabbath – an entire day off, resisting completely those chores that could be done on a different day. I know from (rare) experience there is nothing quite as rejuvenating. And I also know that the smallest infringement (‘I’ll just fit this one thing in’) has the power to distort that wellbeing disproportionately.

Sadly, that knowledge hasn’t turned me into one of the faithful. But I think Friday nights could be my road to repentance. The sun is almost down. It’s time to sign off for the week…. Read more!

Time for balance

I’m wiped today. I stayed up late to wait for traveling husband to come home. Stayed up later to debrief on our days apart. Stayed up even later to play scrabble (via our phones, lying side by side in bed!).

The kids are bagged too. Our week is top heavy. Mondays are OK but Tuesdays mean gymnastics followed by Messy Church (which at least includes a meal, so I don’t have to cook after the somersaults and high beams). Wednesday is after-school sports club and taekwon do. These are for the eldest but his little sister tags along because papa is usually away that night. Yesterday featured another fatigue inducer – a birthday party at the local chippy, wedged in between the two.

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Time for rice krispies

I’m not giving much thought to how I organise my jottings. But since my aim is to embrace the present, that’s surely a good thing. I’ve always been better at making lists of tasks rather than just doing them!

Re-reading my first post, I spotted an intriguing ambiguity. I said my angst often distracts me from the present, ‘so I’ve started to write about it’. So what am I writing about – my angst or the present? Looks like I’ve given myself some leeway.

Perhaps that’s serendipitous. If embracing the present is just a euphemism for distraction or denial, then that won’t really fulfill my aim. I hope a healthy focus on the present will tame my angst and perhaps transform it into something positive.

Perhaps my cue can come from the spiritual practice called the Examen of Conscience, often associated with the Spiritual Exercises of the Jesuit, Ignatius of Loyola. One of its forms is a review of one’s day, with the aim of discerning the integrity of one’s actions. Sometimes it is a particular examen, focusing on one action. It’s a practice with a positive aim: not to dwell on one’s weakness, but to reflect on it honestly with a desire for change.

This isn’t confession time. But I think the pattern could provide a framework for my jottings. What’s the one thing from my day that I will embrace, celebrate and reflect on?

Well I haven’t left myself much room today. But the thing that sticks out is the bowl of rice krispies I came across on the post-school-run breakfast clean up. I was trying to get this mundane domestic task done quickly so I could take my cup of coffee up to the computer and get writing.

There were leftovers because my son decided to pour some of his apple juice into the bowl. I wouldn’t do that, I said, it will curdle. He did. Seconds later he told me it didn’t taste so good. Déjà vu – last weekend, we were making chocolate sauce for the banana splits he asked for as pudding (I refused to get the synthetic stuff from the shop). Butter, chocolate, cream. Full stop. ‘Can I put some of this ice cream in it?’ I wouldn’t, I said. You don’t know what’s in it, and it might make the sauce separate or go hard. ‘Please, just a bit?’ I relented. He put it in. The sauce separated. I was disappointed. He was delighted. So today, though admittedly not encouraging him to do it, I took it as an opportunity to explain what curdling was. He may have gone to school a little hungry -- but pretty chuffed with his experiment. In return, my kids are teaching me to chill out.
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Time to begin

There’s a brilliant scene in The Wire, when Lester tells McNulty – who lives from case to case – to get a life: ‘The job will not save you, Jimmy. It won’t make you whole…boy, you need something outside of this here…a life. A life, you know what that is? It’s the shit that happens while you’re waiting for moments that never come.’ It’s a brilliant line (Lester gets many of those) and reminds me of one of John Lennon’s: ‘Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.’

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