Sweating it out
Percussive sit-ups surrounded by Philip Glass. A sleeping child cries out, a memory from when they drove through the long night, a journey they made many times, their children, so young then, filling the dark with their fragile breath, this same ethereal music playing. Occasionally lights of other travellers speeding over that cold landscape bathed them as if recording tiny moments in the history of vulnerable people. Again he hears the cry, realises it begins deep in his own heart. Pain increasing, he sweats, counts. Days will pass, however slowly, and then his family’s safe return, if he can just keep going.
“Being at home can be fun, insulating, relaxed, boring or isolating ... depending on how the day is going.”*
School holidays are almost over in my part of the world – six long weeks of noise and squabbling balanced by hot, lazy days at the beach or the pool with lots of daring exploits and laughter. Many of our days were spent at home, basking in simple pleasures like baking, playing games or outdoor pursuits – trying to relax the everyday routines of school-morning bustle and ‘having to be somewhere on time’. However pleasant, I must admit to being relieved that life gets back to normal next week, and I can reclaim some of my own time for writing again!
* From Being Mummy by Anne‑marie Taplin published April 2007