This afternoon I was staring out into the Atlantic whilst balancing on a rock with a 2 year old on my shoulders and a 4 year old moving toward the ocean at a slightly alarming speed…
Of all the problems to face as a Father – this is one of my favourites.
Holidays with the boys are a lot more demanding – they are refreshing without necessarily being relaxing – There seems to always be a moment, usually whilst loading up the car with countless loads of who knows what, that I question whether it’s worth going at all and usually I don’t hide my emotions very well (I’m working on it). This particular holiday is to a remote village on the south coast. And, this particular village has a beach that very few people seem to go to. And, the particular moment we walked onto the beach the sand was reflecting the orange of the sky and the ocean seemed to be stretching out to eternity. And, at that particular moment the weeks ‘problems’ seem quite ridiculous and the journey down which strained my marriage because I chose to ignore the GPS because I was ‘pretty sure I knew the way’ was all forgotten.
In the day to day routine of life the world seems to shrink to work, schools and what’s for dinners. Stepping out of the normal can be a bit painful and it certainly takes effort to break out of the shrunk world. But, the screaming happiness of sons tearing toward the sea, the memories created as they jump over waves forgetting that it’s freezing and wet are well worth the pain. The world is better when it’s bigger than routine.
