MY CAR was off the road for a couple of days last week.
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Contrary to all my expectations, the separation has been good for us.
Raising three school-aged children has meant I recently ditched my alarm clock and replaced it with a starter’s pistol – bounding out of bed most mornings to race against the clock.
As well as school, my girls each dance and play an instrument, so I spend a ridiculous amount of time diving in and out of the driver’s seat dropping them off and picking them up.
While I am out and about, it seems to make sense to pop in here, there and everywhere to get a few jobs done.
Those jobs just never are actually done though are they?
Children will keep growing out of things, getting invited to birthday parties and eating.
Last week’s enforced break from spinning in circles just made me realise how dizzy I had become.
When I was forced to stay still for a while, everything around me came back into focus.
I rediscovered what calm felt like.
I saved so much time not putting my coat on and off to go out, that I had time to tidy up a wardrobe in the spare bedroom.
Not rushing in and out of shops meant I was able to cook up some beautiful gifted apples into a delicious sugar crusted pie.
All the time I might have spent popping the boot, locking and unlocking car doors and clicking on seat belts was invested in collecting cobwebs from our cornices.
My ironing pile is gone, the bills are paid and my collection of paper bags is completely in order.
Even though it is a worry that I have a collection of paper bags, I do feel much more content now that they are neatly filed.
Initially the thought of being without a car had left me breathless with panic, however, the reality of being at home for a great chunk of undisturbed time found me breathing more easily than I have in an age.