Going with the flow

I know that we are not able to look into the future, I am not sure that I would ever want to, but I know that if I had looked into February I would not believe what I could see.  It has been an interesting first half of the month.

Some days have been so full that we have only really been at home to eat.  Whilst making breakfast I have also made the other two meals to be eaten later in the day.  Those periods at home gave us time to eat and for breathing in, to rest and recharge before the next thing.  It sounds rather ridiculous and busy when I write it down like this but it worked, we were on time for everything and were not feeling rushed.  There have been several days like this.

A few years ago I would not have had this kind of my day in diary.  It would have been too much for us all, a few years feels like a lifetime ago now, with growing children their commitments have grown too.  Slowly.  It is like any change, when we do it slowly it feels more comfortable, more manageable, we can grow into it, stretch ourselves slowly and the change then feels like a comfortable pair of shoes rather than a pair that rubs and cause us pain.

At the beginning of the year I was asked if I could help out with a paid role in the village.  It is a job I have held in the past, the current incumbent was on sick leave and I was asked to step in, temporarily, not having worked for pay for 11 years this felt rather daunting.  Home educating my children has continued many of the skills that I used in my paid work life but as an unknown world to many it can be make it difficult to quantify those skills to others.  That temporary state of affairs has turned to permanence, I have been through an application process and an interview I haven't done either of these for fifteen years.  I have been digging deep into the memory bank, the grey cells have been worked hard.

I have been at home for eleven years home educating the children, I gave up work to do that, a decision I have never regretted, but I know it will not be that long before I am no longer needed as a guide, facilitating my children's education.  I came to motherhood late, by the time my daughter turns 18 I will be at an age when looking for work after a such long break, her whole life, it is most likely to make me at the bottom of the pile in an application process.  I had been giving some thought to my future over the past few months, thinking that a small part time job that I can fit around our lives might be possible now.  Don't you love it when something come to you and falls into your lap?

Last weekend we were visited by Storm Ciara, it flooded homes in my village, thankfully not mine, and effected the water supply.  Many homes in my village and those in many surrounding us were without water for several days, again we were not effected by this.  We had activities cancelled as the buildings they were held in had no water supply, commitments having to change as the roads were blocked by flooding.  I have been grateful for modern technology, allowing these changes to be passed on to us easily and in good time.

This weekend we now have a different storm paying us a visit, Dennis, we now have strong winds and more rain falling on already wet ground.  I feel for those people who have had water come into their homes which it may do again this weekend.  I have watched the field opposite my house turn into a lake once again, as it did last weekend, I am so grateful that this water has somewhere to go rather than in my house.

We are well stocked with food and wood so we don't need to go out this weekend.  I rather like not having to go out at the weekend after a full week, an enforced hibernation.  I am grateful that I have somewhere warm and cosy to shelter in this stormy weather.  Next week is a school holiday here in the UK, for us this means that many of our usual activities are not running.  We are still pretty busy but with different things, Storm Dennis may put paid to some of that as Storm Ciara did last week.

We will take each day as it comes, what about you?