Holidays are over but memories never fade

I have just waved goodbye to seven whole days of not having the early morning rush. Seven whole days of actually sitting back and enjoying full cups of coffee, albeit it they were still lukewarm, but I was able to drink them in full and manage a sit down breakfast for myself. Seven whole days where I didn’t have to raise a tempered voice,at times like a fishwife pleading for jackets and shoes to be put on. This is despite my intentions every evening that the following morning we would all skip out the door like the Von trap family. Unfortunately sometimes on school and work mornings we quickly turn into the opposite.  Seven whole days of having no time-tables, no stressing over school, work, grocery shopping, washing( the clothes ). Seven whole days where we caved to the kids asks for ice-cream and seven whole days where quality time as a family was all that mattered.

I was a little sad this week to say goodbye to the Easter holidays whilst others are rejoicing the return of packed lunchboxes, ok well I don’t think anyone is happy about figuring out what to put in lunch boxes but you know what I mean.  Don’t get me wrong as I have written about the fact before that if I was at home full-time, the novelty would soon wear off trying to entertain the kids twenty four seven. However it was really really nice to press pause on the madness of being a  full time working mother for a week and a half.  We are all full time working mothers regardless of whether we work in or outside the home but it was nice to focus on the kids only, for the mini break from the outside busyness. I say break in jest as I do think we now need a night away just to sleep, but it was lots of fun. We took ourselves away for a few days, with the threat of heavy rain-pour hanging over us and ventured down the country. Naturally the kids woke even earlier than when they usually do and I am still fighting sickness ,so we were all pretty tired every evening and sometimes cranky, but I think we all cried a little inside when we landed back home.  We made precious memories with both sets of grandparents who both joined us for a night on our holidays and the twins were in their element having them on sleepovers in our “Cork house”.  Family is all that really matters at the end of the day, spending time with each other, away from the noise, away as Emma Hannigan put it in her heart wrenching for beautifully inspiring last words,  away from the drains. Away from the pressures we put on ourselves in a normal day.  I didn’t even care that I brought home a ton of dirty washing, yes that was because I couldn’t figure out the washer dryer in the holiday home we rented! But it was even a welcome reprieve not to hear the whir of a washing machine or dryer!

We all had a digital detox, and if the TV was on, it  was watched for an hour at most and it is something I cannot recommend enough to do. The break has made me really analyse what I want to get out of social media and whilst we all know those who drain us in real life, I used this time away, on my return to delete the digital drains from my life aswell. Life really is too short to follow something or someone that does not make you feel good about yourself, that you do not like, that you don’t have a common interest in or that you don’t learn from. It has on the other hand reinforced my belief that there are lovely small pockets of the digital world that I will remain involved in , friendships can flourish through online communities and I was truly blown away from the level of messages that came through whilst I was away.

Holidays have come to an end but this break has left its permanent stamp on me, and it is all positive.  Being a twin mother from early on routine,routine,routine is what helps you survive and even with toddler twins and anyone with young kids will appreciate its routine that makes things tick every day. However a break away for a few days gives you the energy to relax down, to feel the knots from stresses be replaced with knots from chasing your kids around the pool for hours on end. A change of scenery is good for us all. With the hope that Spring or Summer and potentially the temperatures sometime soon hitting double digits we have made a promise that we will seek out new places to explore at the weekends, like we used to do as kids with our own parents. There really is nothing like a little mystery road trip with family and I am looking forward to the adventures we will take as a family, together. Before that though I think we need to sneak in a few parent only nights away and charge up the batteries for those little hands holding ours grow more adventurous by the day and we want to keep up with them. xx