Moments

It's always exciting to be unleashed after being cooped up inside restricted by illness. So, we triumphantly took to the woods as often as we could during the half term break and what a wonderful treat the woods had in store for us with lashings of autumn splendor. Special times were spent meeting a new cousin, visiting grandparents and a dear uncle, bonding with cherished cousins of old, hearing the stories of Rupert the Bear read by one special 'Pops', having meals lovingly prepared and then shared around one large table with cousins side by side and amongst in-laws and siblings, from the littlest of four and a bit months to the eldest of sixty plus years. This is family, this is memory, these are moments to savour. Even the sad happy moments, like the one where my sister-in-law presented me with a new bauble for the christmas tree this year asking that we think of her and her family in the years to come when they will be far from home, far from us. I held back tears as those precious nieces and nephew were near but a few have since fallen ... 

Time has felt strange, all at once busy and yet somehow still, life not quite shifting nor simply paced  and yet time is so relative, from week to week, day to day, moment to moment. This past week whilst spending time with the new mama's in my life and their new little ones, I once again became grateful for the time that I now have ownership over. Earlier in the week, I was feeling a little cheated for time but after dipping into baby world and observing those early baby days, observing the combined elation and exhaustion that these new lives bring, well I no longer feel cheated. I can confidently say that I have more time to play with than I have had in many many baby filled and little person filled years and I will stop sulking about time ... for now at least.

Image by Stuart Tonge