Home Alone
Wednesday evening finds me sitting at a desk in the study, listening to Spotify, and wondering how much of today’s thoughts to empty into the keyboard. I’m accompanied by a can that was filled with cider until a few minutes ago, and a teddy bear propped on the corner of the desk, gazing into the room with the same silly grin he’s always had.
The teddy bear is called “Geek Boy”. He was purchased for one of my birthdays when the children were young. I think perhaps his arrival may have had more to do with the children visiting Build-a-Bear than getting a teddy bear for Dad. When you squeeze his stomach, three young children’s digitized voices shout “Happy Birthday” very cheerfully indeed. He’s wearing a star-wars t-shirt, blue jeans, and converse style sneakers. He used to have a mobile phone too – I’m not entirely sure what happened to it.
So. I’m home alone. Peter Gabriel is once more filling the room with music, turned up a notch past the level I’m normally allowed to get away with. I stopped at the supermarket on my way home from work and picked up a pizza and some snacks. I fear I may have had an “eyes bigger than belly” episode – the children are going to luck into all the snacks when they get home. The pizza vanished minutes after leaving the oven.
What is this “share pizza” concept? I don’t think I’ve ever heard it before.
My other half has taken the children to watch Chelsea Women’s football club play Juventus in a pre-season friendly. I would have gone with them, but the never ending development sprint at work consumed too much of my day. I imagine with the arrival of FIFA 17 in our house last weekend, the children will be up early tomorrow to re-enact the game. FIFA 17 has women’s teams.
It’s funny – when we adopted the children we went from zero to three children overnight – from a married couple, to a family of five. Everybody comments that it must have been difficult – adjusting to the daily grind – the endless chores. I wouldn’t say that was difficult at all, because we knew what was going to happen. The surprise has been the after school clubs, and sports – the hours standing on touchlines in the cold, celebrating the good times, and consoling on the way home during the bad times.
Who would have anticipated traveling half-way across the country to watch premiership rugby matches, WSL football teams, or the England Women’s football team? Who would have foreseen signed match balls, shirts, and famous player’s names becoming common knowledge throughout the household? We certainly didn’t.
It just occurred to me – here I am, on a night off from the children, and what am I doing? Writing about them. Ask any parent what they talk about on an all-too-rare date night, and they will all say the same thing – the children.
With that in mind, you’ll have to excuse me – there is a quiet cup of tea with my name on it waiting to be made in the kitchen – the kitchen that will have remained tidy since I cleared up after getting home from work.