Is it half term already?
It feels like only yesterday that the school term began, with fresh (ish) school uniforms, new textbooks and another exciting and important year full of possibilities. And yet, here we are wondering how on earth it can be half term already. Time, as they say, waits for no one, and it’s flying by.
I find myself sat back at the theatre, waiting for Lily as she does her last class before the holidays. In a term that has seen my eldest daughter turn 16 and my youngest find her inner Tracey Turnblad, I can’t quite believe that it’s another school holiday. It’s been a busy few weeks that has included the search in earnest for post-16 education for Sophie, which has made me realise how old she really is and little time we might have left living life as we know it. Yesterday she was a babe in arms and in the not too distant she’ll be off to University. Gulp.
It’s true that half term sneaks up on us because of the lives we lead. Between work, school and every extracurricular activity under the sun, our days are packed to the brim. In the whirlwind of daily routine, we lose track of time and suddenly the school term is halfway done. The positive part of this musing is that in a matter of hours I’ll be sat on a plane as we all have a week off.
As I sit in the Curve café people watching (in my prescription sunglasses, looking like I’ve got a hangover – I honestly haven’t, I’ve just lost my readers), I realise I’m tired, really tired, and I’m in need of a rest this coming week. I check the weather forecast in Southern Spain, and massively out of character, it looks like rain. Heavy rain.
I pretend I haven’t seen that and go back to appreciating my current surroundings. Out of the corner of my eye I can see the costume ladies organizing the wardrobes. Then a baby class passes by, parading crocodile style, through the concourse on the way to their class. It’s joyful. And then as I stare into space, I notice the latest installation. An art intervention by Caroline Bugby which is described as a ‘colourful celebratory installation inspired by connection’. And it is! It’s lovely, and it feels apt. For somewhere that I have to come week in, week out, I continue to find Curve a massively inspirational space. So I tune in to the background music that’s playing, I can feel my shoulders drop as I relax over my cuppa and piece of flapjack, and I take a moment to be grateful for where I am.
What a break from the norm and that halfway point in the school term provides you with is a perfect time to take stock. To reflect on the journey so far. To consider what’s next. To make the next set of plans. So as I flick through the Curve ‘what’s on’ guide and wish I could afford to go and see all of the shows, I think about what we’ll do in Spain. I smile to myself that I’ll get to spend a week with my family and not do a whole lot. Then, I consider the diary for the second half of the time and for the first time this year I mentally wander into what our plans will be for Christmas. What I do promise myself is that in the second half of the term, I’ll get out and stretch my legs about a bit more. The whole point of starting this blog was to make sure that I didn’t sit idlily and wait for Lily as she sings and dances her way through our weekends, regardless of how lovely Curve actually is.
I check my watch and there’s a few minutes left until Lily comes out. I take a closer look at the colour installation and soak in the calm. With such busy lives it’s important to find the slower moments and appreciate the now. The first half term of this school year has been a good one, but if the next half speeds by in the same way, it’ll be Christmas before we know it and off we go again. And so as I collect my things ready to leave, I know that come rain or shine next week, it doesn’t matter. A week away from work, from school, from the teenage taxi driving will do us all the power of good. Disconnecting from the every day, sleeping in, reading books, eating all the ice-cream and simply wandering through the coming week all together is what is absolutely needed.
