Monday 25 September 2017

Coming Home and Touching Base

I had a hectic day today: Little Lady's secondary school appeal, Baby’s first morning at nursery, Darling’s first full day at reception and a meeting with Gorgeous’ teacher to discuss the process of applying for secondary schools and Year 6 SAT tests, all before 10am.  Hubby and I split the meetings and drop-offs between us then met up again for him to take me to work.  Work was varied, interesting and full-on: a new mobile working project, a request for some analysis, information requests, meeting invites and a lunch date with friends.

So of course coming home means some rest at last: taking off your shoes and hijab, sitting down for a bit before you have to make dinner, perhaps even a nap.  Or not.  When you are the lady of a busy household, you don’t belong to yourself.  You are the centre of everyone.  You are their solace, their refuge, their therapy.  You are a welcoming pair of arms, a warm lap and sometimes even a punch bag for grumpy little people that need to vent.  You are the answer to everyone’s problems: “I’m hungry”, “I’m tired”, “I hate x”, “I need help with my homework”, “I can’t find my swimming kit”.

You have had a long day and they have had a long day too, you make theirs so much better.  I usually find a scrum as I get through the door:

Darling: “Mama I’m soooo tired”
Little Man: “Guess what, I’m going to audition for the school play, it’s Aladdin.  I want to be the monkey and I get to miss two days of classes”
Mum-in-Law: “You’re mum and dad were here, you just missed them, they brought me lunch”
Baby: “Mamaaaaa” – arm’s outstretched
Husband: “Can you kids take the noise in the other room, we can’t hear each other”
Guest: “There you are, good to see you.”
Little Lady: “I feel sick mum, I’m going to bed, wake me up in a little while, I have homework”
Gorgeous: “I’m starving mum, did you get us anything?”

Pretty much all at the same time.  It takes about 20 minutes for everyone to get heard and acknowledged and for me to get to hear a little about how their day has been.

But this is one of the most important parts of my day.  It sets the tone for the evening.  I can make sure the babies get lots of hugs and cuddles, which brings me comfort too.  I check what everyone has had for lunch, or as often is the case with hubby and mum-in-law if they even got round to having lunch.  I check who has prayed and who still needs to and we work out who gets to use the computer for homework first.

Then I get to take my hijab and abaya off, freshen up, take stock of the state of the house and start dinner, with everyone knowing what they have to do next.


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