Happy Easter.

Happy is such a subjective term, isn't it?

We had a lovely happy day yesterday. Jim, Bella, Lily and I spent most of the day on the sofa, watching tv, reading, drawing and playing. Which is a relatively new stage for us as we've only just reached the point of having children where we are not running at a hundred miles an hour, every second of the day, to keep up with them and entertain them and contain them. Instead we suddenly find ourselves in a situation where the girls entertain themselves and each other, and mostly in a humane, painless, actually quite lovely way for all involved.

 

Suddenly, it has become easier. Not that it was ever that hard. It's just that as a grown up, it can be tiring to discover that your children expect to own every second of your every day. It's a bit of a shock really. Because the parenting books will gleefully tell  you that you'll never sleep again, or go out without suffering huge, screaming tantrums, or be able to have a home that isn't covered in padding on corners, padding on edges, covers on sockets and stoppers on doors (all of which has not been true for us). But they don't tell you that you are going to miss finishing a sentence. Or a thought. Or lying on the sofa. Or having no plans. Or peeing. Alone. Or playing a computor game. Or going to the pub. In the day.

Which is why, when you suddenly hit the stage where your children are relatively happy to just relax, it's really quite amazing. And probably the reason so many people suddenly think, this is easy, we should have more.

Today of course has been fuelled by chocolate and sweets. Before breakfast. After breakfast. Before lunch. After... you know what I'm saying. So relaxation hasn't really been the name of the game, but it's still been mostly good.

Considering that all good is now tainted by the knowledge that life is going to change in a way none of us want.

Which is why happy is such a subjective term.

Something that did make me happy today though, was that this morning, before any of my family woke up and in the sunshine on a peaceful sunday morning, I went for a run. For the first time in 10 years.

In June I am running a 5k charity race, called Race for Life, to raise money for cancer research. Unfortunately it's too little too late for us, but it still gives me a tiny sense of control. In a time when having control seems so far out of my reach.

Having never been much of a runner, this is a big deal for me. If you feel like you could donate a few pence to fighting cancer, please do click on this link and follow the instructions. Please. And thank you.

I hope you had a happy day. Whatever form that takes for you.