Tiny Moments - Part 15

Keep Calm and Sail On

People ask me how I’m coping. I’m coping OK… most days.

I’ve been drinking lots of tea – lemon and ginger to be precise. In my new QM2 mug if at all possible.

It reminds me of that day near the prow of the ship… all alone (despite there being over 2000 passengers on board)… drinking lemon and ginger tea, watching the waves. Mighty, heaving waves. Feeling the calm, like I’d been completely emptied out of all grief and frustration and bitterness.

Calm. Ready to be filled with something new.

Some people would say we were crazy going on such a big, indulgent trip when money had become so tight. Maybe we were… but that’s the way we roll around here. It would only have delayed the inevitable by a few months anyway.

And we would not have had those experiences, the stories to tell, the photos, the memories. Of sailing the ocean on one of the greatest, most elegant ships ever to have sailed on this planet.

Nor would I have this special little mug, and the calm it brings every time I fill it with lemon and ginger tea.

Today I am grateful.

Tucked In

I head upstairs to tuck you in – you in my favourite stripey Bananas in Pyjamas PJs – a bit too small for you now.

Fast asleep, your hand is hanging over the edge of your bunk.

The house is warm from the fire and you have kicked off the doona. Carefully, not to wake you, I pull it out from under your legs and over your back. I kiss your hand…

You are the reason I have worked so hard today. I am sorry we haven’t spent much time together this weekend, but if I can pull this off, we will have every morning and every afternoon, every school holiday and every weekend.

You roll over and pull the doona back off with your legs. Slowly, gently, I again pull it out from under you and cover you over. The house may be warm now, but it will be chilly later.

I love you so much.

Today I am grateful.