Day 10 - bored games

I was determined to use this time we have found ourselves with as the opportunity to have lots of lovely extra family time. When lockdown was first announced I had visions of a daily walk together, all 3 of us linking arms and chatting and laughing together as the wind rippled through our hair and the fresh air made our cheeks (already aching from laughter) red and tingly. My mind pictured me helping Mia with her school work, sitting down together from 9am until 3pm, and working through it happily, learning together and enjoying each other's company. I assumed this could be fitted in around my own work, telephone calls and Zoom meetings, with an hour's break for a home cooked healthy lunch eaten in the garden together, perhaps followed by a ball game, before returning to our desks. The house and garden would naturally be spotless, as with all this extra time, how could they be anything else? Once the day's work had been completed, the 3 of us would sit down for a tasty meal together, and after tea the evenings would be spent playing boards games and snuggling up watching family films, with an hour or so later in the evening to have a bit of "our own time" to read a good book.

Not quite sure where that vision has gone, but it is certainly nowhere to be found..... I think Russ and I are seeing even less of each than usual, due to me and Mia working all day and him enjoying hours on the PS4..... It works that we can do our own thing as well as stuff together later on. My vision hadn't factored in the amount of time I would need spend on hold while making calls to try and sort out financial matters. And it hadn't allowed for the fact that Mia is no longer at Primary School and her work is no longer something "we" can do together. When it comes to her design work, I am totally gutted about this, and once my phone calls are up to date, I am seriously considering asking her teacher to set me some of my own projects. The good thing is that we share a desk and are able to get on with our own stuff and still be together. Although I am sure the usual school day does not consist of 5 mins work, break to stroke the cat, 2 mins work, break to sit and do nothing, 5 mins work, break to check phone, 4 mins work, break to play with the kitten, 10 mins work, break to draw on my arm in biro, 3 mins work, break to walk the kitten round the garden by getting her to follow a rope, 2 mins work, extra long break for Facetime....And so it goes on....

A daily walk is always part of my routine, but while we started off doing this together, some days it is easier to go alone and use that time to make more phone calls. And take photos of Clifton Moor Lake. And have some time to myself.

Evenings are not quite how I pictured either. The thought of a nice board game together or a family film is met with the horror I would expect if I had suggested going to a concert full of people all squashed up and sweating together during the time of this pandemic. I have to remember that Mia is an 11 year teenager, and "bored" games with parents are not as interesting as Facetiming her friends or doing random quizzes on her phone. Or learning new Tik Tok dances. I have to accept the fact that Russ has always liked to do his own thing, and actually that is one of the reasons we still together after 20 years, we often do our own thing as well as stuff together. I have to realise that this is a tough time for everyone, and if we we are not doing something together all the time, then that is fine. There will be board games, and there will be films, and there will be Wii competitions, and baking, and meals together and walks. But not all the time. And there will definitely be lots of "our own time" too. And actually I like that.

(Pic is Harewood House)