My face was frozen but there was excitement in my belly as I cycled home though the fog on Friday afternoon…
Not even the dangerously close 4×4’s could sway my thoughts from the weekend plans. This was no ordinary weekend. Faith was away with work which meant that this weekend was a ‘Boys’ Weekend!!’.
Maybe it’s the fact that I’m only ever inside an office when it’s light outside, or maybe it’s the barrage of negativity on social media, or maybe it’s the creation of ‘alternative facts’… whatever it is it feels like this is a difficult time. So the weekend was well-timed to refocus me on what was important and remind myself that the world isn’t so bad… the perfect antidote to a world that seems to have lost its marbles just a little bit.
By the time I arrived home to relieve my parents of babysitting duties, the adventures of the week and then a day with Nanny and Grandpa had taken full effect on my boys who were ready for very little but bed. We did of course manage a short but particularly violent wrestle… you know – just enough to hype the fellas up so they wouldn’t go to sleep right away (lived to regret that one).
Saturday arrived and we decided to make a pre-breakfast fort. Said fort then provided an excellent, though mildly uncomfortable, location for eating breakfast. Deciding the fort was too small ‘we’ decided to build an extension – this involved a few more duvets, a couple of clothes racks and (for some reason) Captain America. Whatever the American superhero did, it seemed to work and the boys and I rolled around in various game formats for what seemed like weeks.
Fairly convinced I’d lose my mind if we stayed in the fort any longer, I decided to suggest we see if there was still a world outside. At first the idea was hugely unpopular and I’d claim it as one of my finest life successes when I actually managed to force shoes onto my youngest boy who’d hidden (predictably in the fort) at the prospect.
We made it all the way round the park, which may not sound like much, but it’s a pretty big park. The weather was pretty cold and the boys were incredibly unpredictable. They went from the extreme laughter of the scooter races to some very dark places when I told them I wasn’t going to buy them a snack from the café. I decided to keep walking as the boys decided to melt down. To be honest I wasn’t sure if they would follow but the exertion of the fort had caught up with me and I didn’t have much left to give. I’ve grown fond of them both though and I was pleased that they did eventually decide to catch up with me.
Once home, there were more movies from the fort and the occasional mummy location check on my phone. She seemed mostly to be in the same place. By the time Sunday arrived the fort was looking defeated – much like our mood – and we were ready for mummy to return. Once she was in the car the location check on my phone was much more exciting and by the time she pulled into our drive the fort was all but gone. And we were happy to all be together again.
If the weekend taught me anything it’s that it’s hard to feel too depressed when you’re watching the Lego Movie inside a fort that you’ve built out of sofa cushions and a drying rack. It helps to put the world outside firmly back in its place.
