Ho Hum

We had a good day today. A really good day, actually; help to get up this morning, friends to eat lunch with, a beautifully sunny day and an air conditioned van to drive around in Two happy girls, a shiny new computer to play with when we got home again, and a lovely clean house thanks to our cleaner.

And yet...

We should be on holiday this week. Not just a holiday - we should be at Neew Wine; we should be spending the week floundering in the mud with friends from church and others from church who aren't quite friends yet but might become so, worshipping, praising, learning and just plain having fun.

We've had a good week - a great week really, considering how poorly Little Fish might have been. With C here both girls have had a busy time, lots of cuddles and attention, lots of chances for Mog to do things when LF hasn't been feeling so good, and lots of distractions to avoid getting too upset about the many spots.

Not just Courtney; we've had other friends visit, we've had family here (side note: a very cute phonecall from my niece Emma yesterday. "Hello. Sorry for giving LF spots..."), it's definitely been more comfortable here at home rather than sleeping under wet canvas. We've been hsopping, we've done cooking, we've watched DVDs and eaten chocolate and generally had fun.

And now C's gone, and the week's gone, and I'm sitting here feeling grumpy and gloomy for the week we didn't have.

It's not the first holiday we've missed - at one point we missed about three trips in a row because Mog had pneumonia. We've missed family events, friends birthdays, general fun times and holidays. We've cancelled flights and lost deposits and turned up late and left early. We've abandoned family members with friends and spent New Year's Eve in hospital. Changing plans is hardly new to us.

And this was an avoidable illness - I knew there was a chance Little Fish would catch it, and I decided seeing family was more important. And it was the right choice, and LF has now had the pox and I think, I think that's the last of the normal childhood nasties for us. So no need to worry about it when it's doing the rounds at school, it won't now interfere with surgeries or respite or anything else. Definitely the right time to get it.

And it's only one out of our four summer holidays we're missing, and I know that on Sunday I'll be glad I'm not having to think about packing up, striking the tent, and trying to get everything washed and dried and ready for our next holiday on Wednesday. I also know that I've really enjoyed not having to get up in time to let our carers in each morning, and also that this has been the absolute perfect week to have an infectious illness in the house - our regular carers would not have been allowed to come in, so if this hadn't been the week we'd hired Courtney, we'd have been without help all week. Perfect timing, really.

Just for tonight though, it doesn't feel like perfect timing. Just for tonight, it feels as though everyone else has been invited to God's party and we've been left outside, unclean for seven days.

I should probably step away from Deuteronomy.
Tia