An Unexpected Day Alone
The plan had been to head out this morning with my other half, and the younger children to stand on the touchline of a muddy football pitch for an hour, before heading to Oxfordshire to spend the day with the in-laws. When we woke this morning a nagging doubt in my mind came straight out of my other half's mouth, meaning I would stay at home. It's funny how that happens sometimes.
After so many struggles in recent monthsnot a trace of which has appeared in this blogour eldest daughter had a pretty good week. More ups than downs. When she asked if a friend could stay for a sleepover last night we agreed immediately. She has very few friends, and this one in particularfrom the little we know,is very similar in character. They are good for each otherwhere neither of them might have the confidence to do even the most straightforward things, when they are together they somehow muddle through.
Whenever the kids have anybody over for a sleepover, the spare room downstairs gets converted from a video game den into a bedroom with a fold-out double bed. When they were younger it wouldn't be unusual to look in and see four bodies scattered over the bed, and a fifth in a pile of blankets on the floor.
This morning two teenage girls have been sitting in the dark of the spare room, staring into the glow of their mobile phone screens since they woke. Our eldest was up not long after us, making coffee in the kitchen before retreating to their fortress of solitude. We haven't seen her friend yet.
So why didn't I go to football? Our eldest is only 15. Her plans for the day (if they happen) are to go shopping in a nearby town with her friend.They will need to get the bus into town, and get the bus home. If I had gone to football and on to my in-laws, I would have been fifty miles away throughout the day. Therefore I am doing what countless parents have done in the pastproviding an invisible safety net. I'm cancelling my plans to hang around at home just in case. I'm sure she will be fine, but I'll be here if she needs me -ready to drop everything and run. She has no idea.
So! I have an unexpected day alone. A day to catch up on washing, to eat junk, to listen to whatever the hell music I like, and to perhaps wander into town later. I can almost feel the draw of the local stationary store.
One thing is for certainI'm having pizza for lunch.