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This is a photograph of me and my husband at our wedding party in 2013.** The wedding day is supposed to be the best day of your life, but really that is only helpful if it provides a foundation for now. The best day of your life can be now, with special events serving as a reminder to have fun like that again.
Yesterday the cats woke me up, I was momentarily irritated until I saw that it was 8am. I had gone to bed at 10pm so I had had loads of sleep. I fed the cats, made a cup of tea and went back to bed with my tea and my tablet. I looked up things about Thailand: TEFL courses, animal sanctuaries, homeless westerners, women’s projects, ex pats, what to bring… I ordered cute homemade baby clothes from Etsy for a work baby shower. A man knocked at the door, a modern version of ‘any old iron’, and took the shell of the broken storage heater. I answered the door with unbrushed hair and no bra.
I got up and ate breakfast: a hot cross bun and a banana and more tea, then put on my painting clothes and the ipod and painted the skirting board, a second coat from the day before and a first coat on a new section.
I drank coffee. I washed my face and got dressed. I made a smoothie. I went for a walk across the fields. It was the tail end of the hurricane and it was very warm, warm enough for sunblock.
Whilst I was walking the idea and content of yesterday’s blog came to me. I came home and called the council and asked for two new bins, ours are too small. It was one of those jobs I’d thought I’d never get around to. I wrote to a successful blogger to ask about a guest post. I wrote my blog and posted it.
I painted the second coat of the new section. I had a wash. I went to the local grocery shop. My husband came home from work. We ate a late lunch together: sos mix vegeburgers, butter beans, avocado, tomatoes. More coffee.
We drove to Southwold and had a walk along the promenade. It was very windy and the sea was rough but it was warm at the same time because of the hurricane. We found a new cafe that was open late and had dinner there; the proprietor was extraordinarily chatty.
We drove home. It was still only 7pm. I made a couple of calls. I did some yoga. I looked up Russell Brand’s cafe. I read some people’s blogs. I was in bed by 11pm.
I had had plenty of time for everything. I hadn’t felt rushed in any way. I got ‘tasks’ done, I did exercise, I did writing and I had plenty of time for cuddling cats and messing about on the internet. I felt relaxed and slow. It felt as though there was no discernable difference between any of the things I did: No, this is a chore; this is fun. Everything just seemed to flow.
It’s on days like these that I really think, that’s it, I’ve cracked it. I want to say thank you, or, well done, or just, ok, that was good.
**We got married with no fuss, just two witnesses and the kids. My husband’s family had a small party for us at their house. I made the cake.
Rachel 