I changed jobs
I travelled overseas
I fell pregnant
I had said baby (and she's just super)
We moved overseas
My son virtually toilet trained himself
I broke my toe yesterday
That's a pretty comprehensive roundup, no? You're welcome.
I often use this time, morning nap time, to run around the house doing things, or to run around some other place doing things (while she naps in the stroller) and after my smooth move yesterday, its become clear to me that perhaps I could benefit from taking a moment to slow down and collect my thoughts. To be honest, I've been meaning to get back into blogging for a while, what with so many different, hilarious adventures under my belt to share and inspiration from one of my best friends, Elana Goldberg, sharing her parenting observations in a manner much more eloquent than mine. But now that I'm hobbling around like a right idiot, I couldn't think of a better way to make myself sit still. At least for a few minutes until I realise I absolutely have to do something on the other side of the room lest I melt into a puddle of frustration.
It was at about this, the eight month mark with my son, that I began blogging. Perhaps it was because my husband was overseas so I had no one to share that night's observation with (showering with my glasses still on), or because it was only at about this point in the game did I remember I could form a sentence in print. Either way, I'm grateful for it. Taking a moment to reflect is actually hard work. It's not built into our crazy busy lives these days, nor does it offer us the month-long vacation we are actually in desperate need of. Still, the past ten minutes of sitting here thinking of what to write has given me some much needed catharsis that I suppose I didn't even know I needed until I did it.
See, this isn't the first time I've broken my toe. It's the third. And when I stopped to think about it, every time I've done this its been simply because I was too busy doing something else to notice the large mass in front of me that was going to separate my littlest piggy from it's non-roast-beef-eating predecessor. The first time was in a pool when I was fifteen, too busy horsing around to notice I was closer to the shallow end. The second time was late one night at home, my head buried in a work document to notice the fairly large, solid coffee table in front of me. And yesterday's genius moment was between me being in a rush to get the washing on the line while listening to a lecture before I start teaching in a few weeks, after having put the baby down after lunch and not yet having put away the highchair, which I now know is solid enough to make a bone crack when you go barreling into it at top speed. Each time I've done this, its because I've been too engrossed in something else - whether it be my social life, my work life or home life. I didn't see what was in front of me. And we all know how that cautionary tale ends.
With a broken toe, obviously.
So as I sit here, my toe taped and throbbing and my pride aching from the genuine stupidity of how this happened, I'm rather grateful for the chance to stop, reflect and share the things that have been right in front of me, to put into writing the sea of observations, thoughts, hilarity and eventual clarity I've been swimming in.
Can't wait to catch you up.
