We’ve spent every day together as a family for over ten weeks now. It’s by far the longest time the children have ever had with Daddy being around, and I’m pretty certain is the longest period of time hubby and I have ever spent together too. We’ve not had time together like this since our university days. And yes, there are moments when we get on each other’s nerves and things get somewhat fractious. But it has been nice to have this much time together as a family. This is time we’ll never get again. I think we’ll all miss it when things become more normal again.
Underneath the overall contentment of life in our family bubble runs the ever-present undercurrent of sadness. How much Jessica would have loved having family time like this. How much she would have loved being able to spend so much time with the Daddy she adored. To be with both her siblings all day. Oh yes, there would have be squabbles at times – of that, I have no doubt – but all those beautiful moments that I have seen this month with Sophie and Thomas together – she would have been part of those moments. Making memories together. And it breaks my heart that there are so many moments that can never be.
The restrictions of life in lockdown have eased a little from the end of last month, although in reality very little has changed as far as we are concerned. The only real difference for us is that we are now able to visit Jessica’s forever bed once again. It was so hard not being able to visit her and it means so much that we can now go there again, take her flowers from our garden and sit with her there. We weren’t able to visit on the anniversary of her death last month, but we did manage to visit on the anniversary of her funeral this month. It made a very tough couple of days a little more bearable.
Visits to GreenAcres aside, life in our lockdown bubble continues for now. We have decided that Sophie will not be returning to school next month. Her year group wouldn’t be going back until 22nd June and as she is coping well with home-schooling, it makes more sense to us to continue to home-school her for the rest of this school year.
We’ve been spending most of our time enjoying the garden this month. Having the “party tent” up in the back garden provides a nice area with some shade. It’s been perfect for having Sophie’s lessons outdoors, eating meals outside and making the most of the sunshine. As you can see from this month’s photos, we’ve certainly made ourselves very comfortable out there!
Aww! That is so lovely the kids are getting to spend so much time with their dad. As bad as Coronavirus is it has made me so grateful for all the family time we’ve had.
I love that first photo. It did make me chuckle. The kids not looking at the camera and having a fun time x
It is nice to have that family time together, isn’t it? Getting everyone to look at the camera is certainly a challenge! x