I think I'm back, but let's see

I think I'm back, but let's see

5 March 2024

So here’s where I’m at. Older than I was the last time I did this. Blegh! So what. Still don’t feel any older. Don’t really act older either. Amber occasionally asks me to grow up, but it sounds like a really boring endeavour. So I’ve decided against it.

 

My kids are all adults. Kinda! Basically, which means that I’ve got nobody left in school. Yeeeeehaaaaa! Which is actually a big up to me, cause it means that I made it through school, a total of 4 times, including my own lacklustre first attempt, back in the day. Though it does make me a bit sad. I’m one of those really odd people, who seriously enjoyed the school run thing. As well as the whole having kids at school thing. Odd, I know. But I always knew it was a season in my life and I’m partial to seasons and enjoying every phase of the parenting journey along the way. I was also extremely aware of the fact that while the days might seem long, that the years would be short. It really would be gone very quickly and then it would be over forever. Never to be recaptured again. Yes, as previously mentioned, I’m odd.

 

As for the school run, it meant chatting to the kids in the car. Captive audience and all that. They couldn’t escape. So, a fair amount of the time they had bloody earphones on. But mostly we took turns listening to each other’s music. And we talked. Sometimes about meaningless trivial things, like “What’s for supper?”. As well as figuring out the logistics of fetching which kid, where and at what time. But we also spoke about other stuff. Real stuff. Life stuff. Like, why you can’t feel it when somebody licks your elbow? Did tortoises have eyebrows? And why we really couldn’t attempt to finally enforce 3 day weekends every single week. Mondays were overrated after all. Important discussions like that.

 

I always got the very best and latest school gos, fresh, fresh, FRESH! Amber, without fail, delivered the juiciest and most detailed stories. My favourite. I also always got stories from Amber when she was still in high school and beyond, and I would be the lifting mom to and from parties and chills. The minute she’d get in the car, usually with a passle of other girls, I’d ask the burning question that’d been on my mind since the moment I knew she was going to a party, “So, who cried in the bathroom?”. Cause it’s a well known and I’m sure documented fact, nay phenomenon, that at any teenage girl gathering or party, some young girl (occasionally more than one) was always going to cry in the bathroom due to some idiotic boy either ignoring her, or paying too much attention to her, or for drinking too much, or for saying something highly inappropriate, or for not saying something highly appropriate, or for not commenting on her outfit, or new hairdo, or for his own ridiculous fashion or hair choices, etc. Absolutely endless opportunities. So this was definitely a highlight of late night lifting and well worth the effort of staying awake in order to fetch from parties. Yes, I volunteered for this exact reason. Hey, I’d take my pleasures where I could find them. Not that I encouraged or looked forward to some young girl having an agonising time, it was just a given thing, that it would happen. Promise I’m not cruel. It was more about the fact that Amber would so eloquently regale me with these stories and no doubt enlighten me with said idiot-boy’s stupid behaviour. Now, given the fact that I am also in possession of two boys, I’m sure mine also caused a fair amount of bathroom time. Boys! Girls, I tried my best. And I’m really, really sorry. They’re a foreign species at the best of times.

 

Cole’s stories usually involved his escapades and the reaction of others to them. Highly entertaining and I simply always laughed out loud. We all did. To this day, nothing has changed. Delighted that he’s still the same and I so enjoy his quirky, unusual and refreshing take on life as well as his fabulous social commentary on everything. Definitely unconventional, usually ridiculously apt and somehow spot on. It’s truly a gift. However I simply NEVER got a bloody thing from Luke. Not really much of a sharer that one. Still not. Secretly convinced he works for some or other government agency, enforcing him to practice the discreet sharing of minimal knowledge. I mean, he might actually want to share more. But who knows. He might have to kill me afterwards, so it’s a bit risky. Though to be fair, he would always entertain, by filling me in on the latest school fight or disrespectful student-to-teacher moments. Think he lived for those. Kinda weird that given that, he did a teaching stint in Thailand and absolutely loved it. However, come to think of it, corporal punishment is very much a thing in Thailand. Though foreign teachers could not administer violence themselves, I’m sure he was allowed to watch. 😉 Seriously though, he taught kindergarten kids. You know the age where little kids still love their teachers and are eager little sponges, excited about absorbing knowledge. And he completely and utterly thrived and embraced it with utter joy. Still makes me smile when I think about it.

 

Anyway, so here I am again. Writing, albeit rusty. So, I’m not going to commit to doing this daily, but I’ll definitely try for more frequently. How’s that? It’s a start, and I’m looking forward to it.