needs:
January rolls a sleepy head and I can feel the Year sprawled before me. January has always been the foundation for me. It’s when, the dates and times slip and slide and I meander through the things that are out of reach during the year.
It’s school shoes, I just need to sort the orthotics first.
It’s lunchboxes but it’s also about settling in food around meds.
It’s new meds, or new doses of old meds, but it’s also prescriptions, repeats and reviews.
It’s school books but it’s also about revising so we don’t lose the gains made last year.
It’s a GP visit for a new mental health plan so she can see the psych in the holidays.
It’s a chance to do the physical therapy that fell away in term 3.
It’s the dentist that we never get to.
It’s the scans so we don’t have to miss classroom time.
Sweet soft January. Waves and board games are calling. Star gazing and painting at the kitchen table, Minecraft and Disney are stirring my dudes into another day without a name. January, finishing Christmas ham, that school holiday cereal and that single jar of chocolate spread, you know the one. Even the bright joy filled balloon of January is pierced: by The Year. It looms over me. All the bits and pieces that need to be clicked into place are nudging their way in.
And while the planning and the getting out of the way and managing time out of school is such a driver in our life, is it really what January is for?
means:
I believe (try to at least) that January is for the things that build her up, that build them both up, for the year ahead. I have to believe January is for the blocks that make us a family, for the laughter that comes from things that happen only because there was space for them.
I feel useless if I am not getting some kind of result. Not so healthy for me and entirely exhausting to love. I need a parachute, life vest, a life guard, who pulls the planning rip cord and saves January.
I’ve done a little list for myself, for them and for my beloved, the team that paves the way to my heart’s desire. Ours is a family that needs to remember what Summer is all about:
Summer is about lazy dinner at the beach and standing in the sea.
Summer is about lying around and reading books until the very end.
Summer is about a late-night star gazing.
Summer is about learning to cook, see, plant seeds, and building stuff from stuff.
Summer is about my beloved and I having sleepovers in their rooms.
Summer is about swimming in the pool, any pool, any beach, lake or body of water.
Summer is about dancing under a sprinkler.
Summer is about a game that lasts for days.
Summer is about all day dress-ups.
Summer is about a jigsaw that takes a very long time.
Summer is about writing letters and cards to other friends.
Summer is about oh so cool museums and galleries.
Summer is about hot days in cold cinemas.
And Summer, just maybe, Definitely Maybe, “You’re gonna be the one that saves me
And after all, You’re my wonderwall”.
