The school holidays to me are like gold. I miss E so much that I truly count down to the days when she hasn’t got to be up and out and where we can live a little freely, more relaxed and just spend time together. I also really want to make it special, to make the time we have together more than just the every day, to run through the wild flowers and jump onto a train for a big adventure at the drop of a hat.
We are lucky here in the fact that although we live on the outskirts of a town there is so much countryside all around and you only have to drive a few minutes before there are fields and trees adorning the landscape everywhere you look. There is something about the countryside, the open air and the view for miles that instill a sense of calm for me, a contentment that nothing else can match. I always feel like I could easily just plant myself in the middle of it on a picnic blanket with a book and have the children running around me in their own little world of adventure.
For us as a family the prospect of a big celebration, Christmas, Easter, birthdays, they always come with a degree of trepidation. I have written before here about E, she has multiple allergies including food allergies and in a society with food and specifically chocolate and treats dominating celebrations more and more every single event comes with forward planning here. Unfortunately we do receive a tricky response to her allergies sometimes and especially since E started school in September it has been tricky that she isn’t invited to parties or that the parents or even the school are worried about what she may or may not be able to eat and feeling different. Yet here, in her own house she is just like the rest of us, her safety net, her happy place.