Tags
boyfriend, date night, happiness, parenting, relationships, single parent, snow, snowball, swings
I’ve had a lovely weekend. A very lovely weekend.
I have a new boyfriend. Let’s call him Box (a long story, but it works for me). It’s early days, but the relationship is serious, serious enough that Moo is a part of it. Not as far as she is concerned – she’s none the wiser. But she knows Box (and seems to really like him), and she’s a constant consideration in the development of our relationship.
And this weekend it was Box’s birthday.
We spent the day together, Box, Moo and me. His choice. And that did more to endear him to me than anything else that he could have done. When given the choice of what he could do, he chose a treat with Moo as its focus, but that we could all enjoy.
But anyway, the best laid plans and all that meant that of course snow fell, and our day out was no longer possible. But panic ye not! Box risked the drive over in his poorly designed rear wheel drive car (can’t drive it for toffee in the snow!), and after a lunch of spag bol and garlic bread, we ventured out in the snow…
A quick traipse through the wood behind the house, and we were at the relatively untouched snow of the tiny play park that lies beyond. Box pulled Moo on the sledge up to the swings, where he sourced snowballs for her to through at me whilst she swung!
A proper snowball fight was therefore called for, and Moo tugged at my heart strings when she stood in front of me when Box was about to launch an attack, shouting “I’ll protect you mummy!! Run!!”.
As ever, the fun was quickly brought to a close when Moo first fell off the swing, then realised how cold she was… But a carry from Box through the woods, and being pulled on the sledge by me through the streets, and by the time she was wrapped in a blanket back home all was right with the world again. Birthday candles warmed us all up, although not as much as the tea and cake which followed!
A last game of “Crazy Chefs” and it was time to take Moo to her dad’s, so that Box and I could go out to celebrate his birthday. But the trip to the restaurant which we’d decided would be our new birthday tradition was postponed – the snow was too much of a risk for a meal in the middle of nowhere. So leftover lunch was hastily restyled into a pasta bake, birthday cake repurposed as dessert, and political stand up comedy (George Carlin) enjoyed on DVD, during which I struggled to avoid falling asleep (again) cuddled up on the sofa. It would appear that a comfortable, warm body next to me with whom I am completely relaxed is all it takes to put this insomniac to sleep…
It’s been a long time since something so normal was so much fun. There are challenges in building new lives out of damaged families, and Moo remains my top priority. But I’m quietly hopeful. And happy, in a way that I had somehow forgotten I could be.