Where did that woman go…?
The woman who had a gym membership. She worked out three times a week and thought getting up for a 6.30am spin class was the pinnacle of early mornings. (By 6.30am nowadays she is wiping Ready Brek off the floor and turning down increasingly loud demands for Dora the Explorer to be put on. Her exercise is playing endless games of chase round the kitchen island.)
The woman who dated her husband. She didn’t have ‘date nights’ but had fun, spontaneous moments with him all the time. Brunches, drinks after work, dinner and a movie. They talked about their jobs and lives and dreams. (Sometimes now they open a bottle of wine and stay awake until 10pm. But they regret it when one of their small humans wakes up three hours later.)
The woman who moved to New York. She moved countries. Just like that! She had So. Much. Freedom. She had weekly mani-pedis and an astonishing social life. (Now she has Hobbit feet and glitter under her fingernails.)
The woman who saw her friends. She hung out with other women and drank cocktails. She went shopping with them and met for lunch. (Most social events are now planned on her non-working day and they are not dinner and dancing nights but play dates with snatches of conversation whilst trying to teach small humans to share. They don’t want to share.)
The woman who knew about current music, current affairs, current films and current theatre. (Now she is strangely mesmerised by CBeebies and gets emails from Netflix about new animated programmes she might like to watch next. Damn you, Dora!)
The woman who could take an afternoon nap if she felt like it. Because sometimes after all that brunching and exploring and shopping on a Saturday she wanted to lie down in the afternoon by herself and have a snooze before dinner plans. (She would literally pay money to have a sleep in the middle of the day now.)
Sometimes I think about that woman. But not for long because I have to sit on the floor and have a tea party or build a Duplo tower or hide the dinosaur from the tyrannical soft toy lion.
This new woman may be tired a lot, but she is having a pretty good time. She can delight her small people with stories and secret dens under the dining table. She has that bedtime routine down to a fine art. She can terrify the night monsters so her toddler can sleep at ease. She gets to watch the Disney classics all over again (FYI, Bambi is still devastating.) She is filled with a new respect and love for her husband as a dad. She experiences heart-melting moments at least a thousand times a day. She has discovered new levels of patience (I’m going to count to three… right this time I’m REALLY going to count to three.) She has a work life balance that wasn’t there before. She can regularly be found humming the theme tune to Dora the Explorer. Her Spanglish has improved considerably.
Funny, the seasons of your life.
