A moment to savour

Let's face it. My life is pretty crap at the moment. Husband left me, I have to empty a million years of accumulated mess out of the loft (it's getting insulated) the cat brought in a mouse last night that refused to either die or be found, my son swears at strangers, I have a teenager... Really, I should give up and start again.

But then sometimes, just when you are feeling really down, God sends you a special gift. A moment that will become a treasured memory. Something that even when I am old, and more senile, I can tell the nurses in my Home about.

Today, I got that moment. I had no clue that it was coming, I wasn't prepared for it... it was just there.

The day started badly.. I had to clean, do endless loads of washing, ironing, all the boring housewife type things. I didn't manage to locate the mouse that tormented me until 12.30 last night.. it's here somewhere planning revenge. It's meeting with all its mouse brothers and will come back and kill the cat. Ah well.

Due to excessive cleaning, we were very late going on our walk and I lacked the mummy strength and patience to label cars with Lal, so we headed over the park. G had Rounders after school, so we knew she wouldn't be home until 5.30.. we left at 4, plenty of time for some slide fun and to tire him out. (ooh.. sports day.. hell as I suspected.. G came second in 200m... her team won the relay.. and she won the shot put. I'm very proud. Also slightly scared that she is now to become an East German Shot Putter. I googled.. it wasn't pretty..)

Anyway!

Off to the park. Here, some pictures, in case you don't know what a park looks like...

Running away.. anxious for the fun to start..

The best thing ever.. a STICK!

MUMMY.. cuddle time! (If you look closely.. you can see the stick in his hand.. I got hit with it.. he loves me..)

Right.. so we got to the swings.. and here it is.. my moment. My wonderful moment..

You see the girl with her back to me? That's G. But how? I hear you ask. She's at rounders. Not "hanging out" in the park with her friends. Not sitting on a swing with her skirt rolled up. She wouldn't do that. She is obviously a mirage.. or she has a doppleganger.

I couldn't get a picture of the realisation crossing her face. The look that just shows off to perfection her sure and certain knowledge that she has been caught. It was perfect. It was "How can I get out of this?" crossed with "she's going to kill me" with a little of " OMG" thrown in. True perfection.

I, being the evil person that I am, didn't tell her off, I didn't shout, argue, nothing. I simply smiled and told her friends that I was sure G would be looking forward to going home tonight. NOT to expect her on msn, the phone or outside for the next few years. And thanked them for their friendship. She truly appreciated it, and was very sorry that grounding ensured she would no longer be able to accept it. I then played for 30 mins with Lal on the slide, whilst she watched in horror, wondering what punishments I was cooking up. It must have felt like she was waiting for her execution.

Tonight, her apologies, her PROMISE that this has never happened before, or will again... It's been wonderful.

Seriously.. savour those moments. Those moments when you know, and they know.. that you own them, and the rest of their teenage years.

At least until tomorrow..

K xx