School Holidays

I am a high school teacher - high school teachers LOVE school holidays.



As for me, I crave the chance to sleep til I wake up (as opposed to being an alarm clock slave);

I like to have lunch when I'm hungry (as opposed to when the bell rings);

I always plan to get a long list of stuff done - stuff I've "left til the holidays" (I rarely do, but I keep the aspirations);

I like to catch up with friends (some of whom I haven't seen since last holidays);

I like to shop, to go to the movies, to go to the coast....you get the idea!



Well that's how it used to be! Now I have two little henchwomen with me at all times.* This holiday, so far, I have played scrabble with a very old friend, while M** watched Tom and Jerry and J*** looked up every word we wanted in the dictionary, kept our score and asked forty seven thousand questions. B and I used to gossip, bitch, laugh, joke (and in our younger years, drink and smoke) while playing scrabble. Yesterday, we answered questions, bravely struggled on and decided to play scrabble late at night in the future.



So what else will the holidays bring - not sure, bring it on!





*Have I introduced you to my mother? She is FANTASTIC! She knows how stressful my life is and likes to help me de-stress by taking the girls one weekend a month and for some time in the school holidays. She is a Saint. I would be a disaster without her. And, in the interests of full and frank disclosure, I should say she took "The Terrible Two" for 3 days at the very start of these school holidays so I could finish my assignment.



** Miss 6 - M - is in year 1. She is hilarious and fabulous. Despite her mother she is the girliest of girls. Here is an M story which best introduces her - one morning while I was getting ready for work, she told me that Lucy's mother wears this; Emiliy's mother has that colour nail polish; Lily's mother has a particularly fantastic pair of earrings; Olivia's mother's hair is that colour; Georgia's mother ALWAYS wears make up. Eventually, I said "Well M, I'm sorry your mother is so ugly!" She was horrified! "Oh no, Mum, you're BEAUTIFUL!" (my heart melts just a little) pause...... "On the inside!" Smackdown!!



***Miss 7 - J - is in year 3. She is intellectually gifted (very high IQ, taught herself to read at age 2, completely asynchronous development). That's a journey in itself. J also has ADHD. This is karma for me -- all those years as a teacher when I thought that ADHD was just code for bad parenting! Karma. Have spent more than half of my parenting journey thinking I was a bad mother as well. Am learning to let go of that and just hang on to J for the ride. She is wonderful, miraculous, fantastic, exasperating, high maintence and exhausting. In equal measure.