Family, family – yes, please

Yesterday, John suggested that we spend a day a week doing the cleaning of the house. “Good idea,” I said. Not long afterwards, John wondered if I thought it really was a good idea. “Of course!” I replied, surprised. Apparently my tone had suggested otherwise.

Anyway, this morning, as I was vacuuming the house, tidying the kitchen, making up beds and shopping in readiness for a Freddie and Lily sleepover tonight, I wondered whether we would ever manage it. I am game to try, of course, but tell me, can you get all your household jobs done in one day?

Before we went to collect the Kenilworth Sleath Juniors, we nipped over to the other side of Warwick to look at a house with Michael, who was on his own today with both children, while Danielle has some girl time away with her Uni friends. We were able to relieve a little bit of the children pressure while he had a look round, and then we had an hour at our house, in the garden, with the Sutton Sleath boys and the Kenilworth Sleath Juniors.

The boys had a whale of a time in the garden, running around like lunatics. Each, in their own way, wanting to show the other what they could do, and getting more and more extreme in their antics. Quite hilarious until they fell upon each other and clonked their legs together, whereupon tears ensued. Oh, the joys of being a three- or five-year old!!

William, to his credit, was an absolute star when it came to home-time. We were all expecting tears and tantrums and the wailing of: “I don’t want to go home….” but, once he’d been told that they were leaving in five minutes, he struggled with his inner self and his reluctance to leave, and allowed me to carry him to the car, find him a sweet treat from the sweetie tin ‘for the journey home’, and buckled up like a man. Well done, that boy.

We had our evening meal and then it was Freddie’s bath and bedtime. He, too, was as good as gold and settled to bed with no fuss at all. I told him a story about a little boy whose Grandma had a cupboard he liked to play in. I told him about the space ship inside the cupboard, and all the knobs and buttons that the little boy pressed to transport him and his Grandma into space, around the earth and to the moon and back. And how they were back just in time for tea.

Freddie looked at me with a knowing look and grinned. “Pat me,” he said. So I did.

We didn’t forget darling Lily this evening though. Having done so well with her results on Thursday, we celebrated with a film on Netflix – Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – a ‘Monster’ drink (normally forbidden) and a packet of lime and coriander poppadums. We had a lush evening.

Naturally, we, being old, were ready for ascending the staircase before Lily. John went to bed after the film and I came upstairs to do my blog. We left Lily watching ‘Friends’ with the promise that I’d be back downstairs soon. Not long into my ‘blog world’ I could hear some clonking downstairs. It was fairly consistent and persistent, so I thought, ‘Oh, bother! I’ve put a pan/plate/baking tray into the dishwasher at an odd angle and it’s catching on the paddle as it goes round.’ I ignored it for a bit, but then thought I ought to go down and rectify it.

There was no trouble with the dishwasher at all. Lily was on her knees in front of my food cupboard tidying it up. Wow. That girl’s a keeper. The cat had been sniffing at the cupboard in an attempt to persuade Lily that it hadn’t been fed for years. She opened the cupboard door and saw what a jumble everything was, so thought, ‘Why not?’ Well, I am forever grateful. She’s a wonder woman.

Back to earth with a thud, though, as we consider the COVID stats. Today’s test results show that 29,520 people proved positive for the virus and 93 people died in the community. It’s too many, isn’t it? Just too many.

Still, I’m still celebrating our wonderful children and grandchildren who light up our lives every day in one way or another. Naturally, all those families who have lost loved ones to the virus are in my prayers, but I am rejecting the idea of dwelling on that sadness just now. It’s too hard.

Take care everyone. You are in my prayers, too. Whether you believe in God or not, I pray that whatever is needed to support you in your lives, you find. God bless.