Today is the last day of the autumn school holidays. I'm sure I've said it before, but I LOVE Australia's system of four terms broken up by holidays. Just about the time you think "I can't do another freaking DAY of driving the school run, it's holiday time!
In the last year I feel like I've finally figured out what I need to be my best self/mom/partner and even how to accomplish that with the kids home from school. Since I am an introvert, and I love people, I have learned how to pace myself to have time to recharge before being social again. During the school holidays that looks like not scheduling constant activities, and also enforcing an afternoon "quiet rest" time where I get 1-2 hours of alone time.
Somehow, this school holidays, things seemed to go off the rails. One child got lice (and we know how much fun that is for a family of six, even if no one else gets infected!), three got seriously sick with a horrible flu that had a long incubation period. Just when you think "yes! we're clear!", someone else turns up with a fever and we're back in quarantine. We also had a friend and her son staying with us in the period of time between shipping the contents of their house, and leaving to return to Canada.
Personally, I am in a season where I am battling some stress and anxiety, and we have had lots to do during the time we are meant to be relaxing.
So, yeah, we did some fun things. There was the camping in Kiama...one or two play dates (one that ended in a trip to the hospital for my poor friend M, with her daughter having a double break in her wrist from falling off a cubby house!). Somehow in the mix we lost track of the quiet rest time, and Finch has been in our room at night because he's sick. So, my sleep has been interrupted at night, and shortened with his early waking.
So, contrary to how I usually feel, I am relieved that the kids are returning to school in the morning. The holidays have felt very demanding, and I have felt ill-equipped to respond to everything on my plate.
That's really okay, I'm not going to feel bad about it. We may not have had a glowing, stellar two weeks, but my kids got to play together, and enjoy doing some hard work with The Captain and I, and just having a break from the routine is good for them, I know. I'm not going to get hung up on what might have been, but just be thankful for the break, and also for a great school and teachers to return to. If they had been sick during school, they would have missed a cumulative two weeks, so it's good that didn't happen.
Elsa Walsh makes a good point in her article - I will embrace my "good enough life". Read the article, it is a good reminder that we don't need to be superhuman women, mothers, and in our careers, we just need to find a good enough balance that we will be pleased with when we look back on our life from the tail end of it.
I like your last line. It resonates with a lot of my life in this season. Resting in the balance one develops between engagement and reflection. There is the place to define the quality of life.
Posted by: Dave | 09 May 2013 at 02:25 PM