The Bar Is Low

“I’m kind of looking forward to car-time,” I said to my middle child.

“Me too!” she said, as we packed up our supplies.

It’s the new thing in our house. After months of finding things to do while the eldest is at her gymnastics class, we finally realised that sitting in the car is the most relaxing activity of all. No more will we make the utterly pointless drive to the shop to buy bread we don’t need. No more will we get stuck in traffic on our way back, rushing and stressing to pick her up on time. Now, we do the thing I always thought sounded worst of all – we wait in the car.

I bring my laptop and get some emails done. The kids have books and snacks. They fight, but not so loudly that the people in the car beside us can hear, and not in a  blood-pressure-raising way – just regular, sporadic, relatively quiet fighting. We listen to the radio. We talk. They look at the internet over my shoulder. The spill crackers out of their mouths onto my shoulder. But it’s better than the pointless, rushed bread-buying trips. So I’m sticking with car-time.

In fact, our forty-five car journeys a week have been whittled down to a mere twenty-nine, through a mix of after-school activities and car-time.

If you’d told me six months ago that I wouldn’t mind spending forty minutes in a car with two squabbling children – that I’d actually look forward to it as a bit of downtime – I’d have been a little frightened for my future self. I might have staged an intervention.

But actually, this isn’t a new trend – the pleasure bar has been on a downward spiral for eight years now; I no longer have time, space or money to do whatever I want, and as a result, the things that make me happy are smaller and simpler.

I love nights in. I still love nights out, but they’re not the twice-a-weekend event they used to be. Instead, many Saturday nights are spent on the couch, watching a film, drinking red wine and eating cheese. And I look forward to that just as much as I ever looked forward to getting the bus into town. Sometimes more so.

wine and cheese - office mum

I love six hours sleep. Because it’s more than the four hours that I used to call “sleeping through the night” on and off in recent years. It’s nowhere near the mammoth sleeps of life before kids, but I’ve realised I don’t need it.

I love a ten minute shower behind a locked door, while my husband does story time.

I love sitting at a screen, working. Not just because work is good – work was always good, but also because it means sitting down. The rest of my time is spent running and chasing and driving and clearing and refereeing (except, of course, for car-time.)

I love five minutes with tea, soda bread and Facebook, when all the school-runs are done.

Bread and tea

I love getting the bus. Anywhere. It’s me-time. Phone, book or magazine in hand, half willing the driver to slow down so that I can have longer. Bliss.

I love a glass of red wine on a Thursday night. Because it’s nearly Friday, and it’s been a long week and no matter what I have or haven’t done, no matter how badly, I feel like I’ve earned it.

I love coffee in my kitchen. This bar has lowered further in recent months – I used to have a cappuccino from the coffee shop near work every morning, but I think I love the one I make myself as much as I ever did the frothy one in the cardboard cup. Possibly because I have no choice, but the pleasure is just as great – it’s just that the bar is lower.

coffee - office mum
Liquid happiness

Anyway, I better stop typing. Car-time is nearly over, and there’s a child dribbling crackers on my shoulder. That glass of wine is only four hours away now. Bliss.

 

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6 thoughts on “The Bar Is Low”

  1. As long as there’s wine at this ‘bar’ all is fine! I came to the same conclusion as you when ferrying my (only) child to and from activities when he was younger and waited in the car, pool, or relevant hall. Feet tapping away as I worked out dance steps and entered them in me buke! Never cared how strange it looked….. needs must and we must use our time wisely 😉 x
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