Living Arrows 2020 – 29/52

We made it.

Somehow we made it to the end of the strangest school year I could have imagined.

We’re all feeling a real mix of emotions about it all at the moment.

I think we’re all happy that the end of term is here, but that happiness is tinged with the sadness for all the things the children have missed out on.

It’s been 16 weeks with them at home, so that’s 16 weeks not spent with their friends.  16 weeks out of the classroom and away from their teachers who they love so much.  16 weeks without swimming lessons and cubs and rainbows and all those normal, fun things they’d normally do alongside school life.

They did have their 3 days in school over the last 3 weeks though.

Before they went in I honestly wasn’t sure if it was worth it.  It seemed such a tiny amount of time, in a strange situation, and I wasn’t sure what they would really get out of it.

I’m so glad they went though.  It was definitely the right decision for us.

They came out happy each time and I’m so pleased they were able to have that little bit of time with their teachers and a few of their friends before the end of the year.

Now we have the whole of the summer holidays stretched out in front of us.

I’m not sure quite what we’ll do for the next six weeks, but we’re off to a pretty good start so far.

The children had finished all their work from school by Wednesday last week, so we were able to relax towards the end of the week.  I took them out to the park on Friday for a few hours and it was so nice to just be out, letting them run off some pent up energy.

There were people in the play area of the park, which surprised me because they were supposed to still be closed until today here in Wales.

Luckily the children were really understanding when I told them I still didn’t want them going in there and playing.  I know that might sound over the top to some people, but I’m still feeling quite cautious about what we do and where we go.

The main reason I wanted to keep risks at a real minimum though was the fact that they were going to be sleeping over at their grandparents house for the weekend.

They counted down the days all week, they were so excited.

We’ve seen Steve’s parents all through lockdown, but have only recently been able to hug them again and go in each other’s houses since we formed an extended household with them.  So it was a bit strange for all of us after all this time to think about the children being able to go and stay overnight with them.

But I’m writing this in a house that is blissfully quiet, knowing they’re having a great time being spoilt by their grandparents, making them sit through the Harry Potter films that we sent over with them.

It’s a beautifully normal thing, them spending time at their house, that feels so incredibly special after all this time.