Mothers use their bodies

I had a little think as I was standing in the kitchen. Last autumn was very stressful.

I used my body to sleep on my mother in law's sofa the night she came home from hospital, just in case. Then I used it to sleep on our own sofa, a few rooms further away from her, but still near her door, just in case.

Only 2 weeks later I used my body again, to sleep in my mother's double guest bed, which I would have shared with her, only she then decided to be in with my father, but I was there on the floor above them, just in case.

This Easter holidays, it's a bit of a theme.., both T and H were unwell, along with me, so I lurked on the sofa, feeling dizzy when lying down, but better when I was sitting up. In good moments I used my body as a mother to investigate rooms which might have needed help (bleach...), put the laundry on, then went back to not ruling the household with my eyes shut and feeling odd.

When I can, I sit in the kitchen using this laptop, which means I can be asked to move money from account to account, or listen to words. Even the cat wants me, so sometimes I have time to sit and let her fall asleep, sprawling her furry arms and legs in different ways each time.

Not being there is profoundly wrong, yet sometimes has to be done. Is there a being there which doesn't include the body? No, there's no getting round that fact.

Road Trip!! - Barnacle

Road Trip!!

My son T's shout when we all decided to jump in the car with him to take my mother in law, their grand-mother, to do useful things at Tesco. I think she was surprised to have such a crowd wanting to come along for the ride.

We went in the wrong direction, chatted to a neighbour their age at the village shop, saw that there are hand-car washes in the Tesco's car park and took care of her box of eggs on the middle part of the back seat.

Barnacle

Last night I saw my son H happily reading a dictionary in the kitchen. This morning he greeted me with the word 'barnacle', which made me giggle. So we worked our way through some other words on that page and had a fun time.

I told him that my Arabic dictionary had never made me laugh at all, so he said that eventually it would. I am not so sure, humour doesn't seem to live in between those pages. It's all very deep and meaningful. None of the parallel meanings have been remotely funny, and it doesn't take much to set me off.

My son's truly lovely photos from years ago

Have a browse. His comments are so lovely too. Proud, proud mother.

See how my name and initials are mixed in. That is from when I was somewhat involved with my son's online activities. My YouTube account is still stuffed with gaming links from my time sharing it with H.