Back in a routine.

Kids started back at school yesterday and we are reluctantly getting back into a routine, of sorts.  I always feel emotional at this time of year when the kids are no longer all mine and I have to once again share them with the other main influences in their lives, their friends and teachers.  Don't get me wrong the summer holidays has not been all sweetness and light.  There have been times when I have resorted to hiding in the toilet to get five minutes peace and occasionally hubby and I have argued over who gets to take the dog out just for some precious alone time.  I think it boils down to this.  During the school year we are ruled so much by timetables, bedtimes, homework and daily schedules that time passes so quickly.  We become  caught up in our daily task lists that the opportunities to just sit and enjoy what we have can be squeezed to the margins of everyday life.  Summer holidays offer us freedom to bend the rules, push back the bedtimes, embrace new adventures and enjoy the glorious sunshine of summer.  The reality however can be bored, overtired kids who are fed up looking at the rain and find that turning the house upside down is the best form of entertainment.  Every year I have such high hopes and grand plans for our summers together.  They never go as planned.  

This year instead of focusing on what we did not achieve I am concentrating on the fun we did have. This morning I also had the opportunity to take a long morning walk which I have not managed the entire summer.  I forgot how much I needed it. I thought I'd take a picture and share with you one of my favourite sites.  It is my favourite field.  Now I know this may not be the most exciting and epic of views however let me explain.  I live not far from where my great grandfather grew up and worked the land,  he may even have worked this specific field.  Every time I walk past it I get a sense of how fleeting time is and how constant and consistent change is.  Throughout the year this field goes through various changes and stages.  The world around it buzzes by and summers come and go.  Every time I walk past this field I get a sense of what has come before and has yet to be and that I am simply a dot in the passing of time.  My overwhelming dramas and emotions of the day are so insignificant and the world is impervious to the issues I grant power to.  This field reminds me that no amount of stress and anxiety will alter what happens in life.  Time will pass, good times will be had, bad times will have to be endured but still time will pass. This field grounds me and enables me to put things into perspective.  I've missed this field and hadn't even realised it meant so much to me till I saw it today. It has made me wonder what else am I missing that I don't yet realise? In the mean time I am grateful for reacquainting myself with this old friend.