It is a Friday night.
The wind outside is rife.
The days have been cold.
It is an opportune time to be on maternity leave.
I can stay home as long and as often as I want, and I don’t feel bad for it… not that I should. But the weather does not permit me to go outside, nor does my heavy belly. 😂
They are aligned. It is perfect. 😁💖🤰🙏
I’m now properly sick.
Of course I am. EVERYTHING has caught up to me.
Cold air. Hot air. Cold air. Hot air.
Cold air. Walking in gusts of wind after the car broke down yesterday. My nasal passages and head searing and pulsating in pain.
Hot. Cold. Hot. Cold.
Jobs in, jobs out.
To-dos, to-dos, to-dos.
Money in, money OUT.
Responsibilities IN… responsibilities IN.
More to-dos.
Hot. Cold. Hot. Cold.
Stress in, stress in!
Also, pregnant, and needing a f*&#ing break.
This afternoon, my body had enough. My head was going to explode. After all today I woke feeling worse than any other day. Still had to go into the cold to see baby girl off for school (Hubbie took her) then later on went outside to see the tow truck take away our car, but of course this was EXACTLY when blistering arctic winds came and decided to pelt down around me.
Right at that moment.
So of course I’m sick. I reached a point of no return this afternoon, and I lay on the couch.
One hour. First pain, then relaxation. Hubbie came home early. Started dinner. I lay there. The house warm. The wind still whipping and howling the bricks outside.
I lay there for about an hour.
Even in pain, you can sometimes find bliss. 🙏
Today was an interesting day, to say the least.
We went to a shopping centre to do some Christmas shopping. 🎅🎄🛍️🛍️
Then on the way home, our car broke down. 🤦♀️🚘
So, here are my gratitudes for the day.
I’m grateful that we had a successful day of Christmas shopping.
I’m grateful I spent the day with my family.
I’m grateful that Hubbie was driving the car when the temp gauge went up… I am nowhere near as aware of it as he is.
I’m grateful that the RACV guy came within 30 minutes (not 40, or 70!)
I’m grateful that there were toilet blocks we could walk to as we waited.
I’m grateful the rain didn’t let loose as we were heading back to our car (but the wind hurt my cold, sick head, really it did).
I’m grateful we were sheltered in our warm car as we waited for the tow truck.
I’m grateful the tow truck came in an hour 20 minutes, not 4 hours!
I’m grateful the uber came to take us home within minutes of the tow truck arriving.
I’m overall so grateful that the car broke down today… Hubbie and I were talking later, and let’s be honest, it is NEVER a good time for your car to break down.
But we were together.
It was a Sunday – no work, no school.
We were on our way home, not headed out.
We had roadside services available to us that came well before the time suggested, to which we are utterly grateful.
We got home, and had a roof over our head, a heater that started to warm the house, and food that we could start preparing for (a very late) dinner.
All while the wind and rain howled outside.
And I just know there are some unfortunate people who don’t have shelter tonight.
So from the bottom of my heart, I am so deeply grateful for how things played out today… as inconvenient as it was, it could have been so much worse.
Sometimes I really do feel, like today, that there are people pulling strings from above… making sure inevitable things happen at appropriate times. 🙏🙏💖💖
I don’t know what it is, but I’ve had some kind of cold-hayfever hybrid these last couple of days.
Head cold, nose dropping like a tap at times, sneezing. I know we whinge about the weather, A LOT here in Melbs, but I swear to God this is no exaggeration:
I wholeheartedly blame Melbourne weather.
Everywhere I turn I hear of people catching something. And how can you not be sick? One day we’ve got the air con on and visiting the beach for the first time, sweating under doonas overnight…
Then the next we’re rugging up in jackets and shivering and putting on the heater because apparently winter never actually moved on, it just lay dormant to tease and torment us into a false sense of security before f$%*ing everything right up.
Rant over.
We had a family member’s house to go to tonight, and I honestly didn’t know how I would cope. At times during the day I sneezed so much my eyes went watery, used my fair share of Aloe Vera Kleenex, and my nose-head area was pulsing and feeling the pressure more than Mercury and Bowie.
Of course we notified said family members of my current state, and they were still happy for us to come.
And then that thing happened, where my symptoms went on pause for several hours.
You know how you tell someone you’re under the weather, but then you see them and suddenly there’s no sneezes, drippy noses or clutching heads? 🤦♀️🤣
(I mean it’s great, but you look like a bullshit artist).
It’s like your body gets distracted and puts a hold on things.
I don’t know if it was just focusing on something else, being in a different place or what, but for about 4 hours tonight, I was good!
Sure, it only lasted 4 hours, but it allowed me to have a somewhat good night despite my head and nose. 🤣😫🤧
Little things, little things. 💪💪
And then summer came.
Last week, heater. Even, colds, or something was lingering in our household.
Today, HEAT. It was glorious, but it’s come on quickly so there has been some very sudden adjustments.
But there was a moment of symmetry today, that really made me think…
Because it was sunny, ALL DAY. I do a little walk near the school before pick-up, so as I approached the lolly-pop man crossing, a strong clap of thunder threatened from above.
What? Thunder? Sure there were clouds up there, ominous too, but it was sooo warm!
Surely there wouldn’t be any rain on such a gorgeous day. Not here anyway.
We got to the car and all was good. Mondays we go straight to swimming from school, because baby girl has a class at 4pm.
We were in the car and suddenly, I could hear spots on the car. Some massive drops appeared near the open window, and we quickly closed it.
OK, sure. There was some light rain passing. That’s all it was.
But these drops, they were BIG! They were thick, they made an impact when they crashed down.
Within minutes, the sky was dark and it was pouring. We were driving and marvelling how we had been so hot and bothered only minutes earlier, and now we were driving to swimming and we were literally swimming in it ourselves! We had to do a dash inside, getting splattered with heavy raindrops all over, and we just kept shaking our head at the craziness of Melbourne weather.
But… later, it made me think.
Earlier today, I had sent my manuscript off to someone… and this manuscript that I have slaved and stressed over for weeks now, well it has a scene in it where the rain comes down hard and heavy out of nowhere…
And I went huh? What are the odds?
I don’t know, but it felt awfully coincidental, symmetrical, super weird, that we were kinda acting out a scene from my book, on the day it went out to… someone.
What are the odds?
Rain is release. Letting go. Things getting unveiled, brought to the surface.
Replenishing. Renewal. Rejuvenation.
Let’s hope it’s also means Reward. 🙏
Hubbie and I may have worked today, but come mid-afternoon when we clocked off, we made sure to act like we had been on holiday indeed.
Coffee and cake. 😬
We played Monopoly, which baby girl was OVER the moon about!
He then napped, while baby girl and I read. I actually finished a book!
And then we got really excited watching one of the traitors get banished tonight from the show of the same name… it’s getting to the pointy end!
It was cold. It was rainy. It was windy. I really didn’t care that I had to work today. But yet, doing those slow, relaxing things in the afternoon and then at night with my family…
Having a coffee break. Playing a game. Reading… it was bliss.
It slowed the afternoon right down, and reminded me that we don’t always have to be go-go-going.
We can just sit, relax, and be, be, be in the moment. 🙏💖
This morning for brunch, I had a delicious vegan crumpet stack with chia raspberry jam, coconut ice cream and biscuit cream.
The air was cold, but the sun was shining bright on this last day of Winter. 🌞
Hubbie and I also had lunch in the sun, out on the balcony. It feels like the longest time since we’ve done anything like that, it’s really been so cold and miserable out. But I had a summer hat on in the bright midday sun, and we munched away under the rays. 😎
I am so emotional at the moment. I cry at the drop of a hat, for sad, for happy. Feeling my eyes well up with tears is a common occurrence.
My bump is showing more. 😁😁
And on this last day of Winter, I have one thing to say to it…
Bye bye. 👋😁😂👋
Bring on the light!
We’ve gone away for a couple of nights.
We were feeling a little unsure about it all, because firstly it’s been freaking cold. You kinda wanna save your leave and your getaway times for when it’s warm, and frankly it’s just been shithouse.
But as soon as we got here this afternoon, through the traffic, the gloom, the wet gravel-y roads, we kinda gasped and immediately didn’t wanna leave.
I think I can safely say that any property you hire via the dayget portal is going to be amazing. From my first experience holidaying here with some friends way back in the day, to then 7 years ago now when we first took baby girl (😲), to now, every single time we have been here in one of their different properties, we’ve been super impressed.
We want to take all the furniture and styling ideas home. It’s truly a beautiful place, and the greenery outside is so peaceful and stunning.
We can’t wait to properly sightsee amongst the sunshine tomorrow. 🌞
Baby girl started coughing on Sunday, and I started FREAKING OUT.
Because it’s lead up to birthday week, we kept her home, in case… I’d rather her stay home all week and be well enough for her weekend party, than to get her to school and then there is no party.
Having said that, the days of sending your kids off to school with a sniffle and cough are long gone. It is just not acceptable, and frankly it is better.
Her nose wasn’t just a sniffle though, and her cough wasn’t just a cough. It wasn’t covid either (been there, done that, and the RATs prove it). Her nose was running like a tap yesterday, and her cough was so dry and persistent, I was just staring at her thinking, “this isn’t happening.”
Today was a much better day, in SOOO many ways. She slept ’til 11am! And her sniffle and cough are so far subdued from what they were yesterday, there was no question in my mind that she would be returning to school tomorrow.
YAY! We are going ahead with the party!
We are down 2 months of Winter!
It may be cold and windy outside, and sure the air is icy at hell during most parts of the day, but you don’t fool me, weather!
August is upon us, so close, tomorrow. And we all know, though the days remain cold, one thing begins to change…
The sun shines more. Buds on trees blossom. The air begins to shift.
Spring begins to spring forth.
I for one, am sooo ready for this next stage.
BRING IT ON!
carcrashgratitude 