Hi there

Four days to go, and the party poppers are poppin!! After an early Roast lamb, we headed off to the rugby club up the road, for a sing song. It was epic, as ever. So many friends and families. Just love it. Spot Grace and Mark…and guess which Carol we were singing. Let me give you a clue: it was MY FAVOURITE! 😂

I loved being kind of invisible in the crowd, if you know what I mean. Being part of something bigger, and not the bus driver. I also really saw Grace and Mark. Not as my children – not as the little people they used to be; not as the future versions we all imagine our kids becoming – but as the adults they are right now.

The way they moved through the room. The way they spoke to people. The ease they have with themselves. The kindness that shows up without fuss or performance. It caught me off guard, if I’m honest. Those moments do. You think you’re just going to a carol afternoon, and instead you’re handed a quiet reminder that time has been doing its work while you weren’t looking.

There was nothing dramatic about it. No big conversation. No milestone. Just an ordinary afternoon that suddenly felt quite extraordinary. Watching them interact with the world, confident and comfortable in their own skin, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude – not pride exactly, but something deeper and calmer. A sense of peace; that Life is exactly as it is supposed to be. Sometimes I get sad because they live so far away from me. But today I realised that it is precisely that life they have carved out for themselves in New York and San Francisco that makes them the bright, strong characters that they are.

We spend so much time worrying when they’re young. Are we doing enough? Are we getting it right? Are we preparing them properly? And then, one day, you realise they’re standing there in front of you, doing just fine. More than fine, actually. I don’t think these moments announce themselves. They slip in quietly, disguised as everyday life. And if you’re not paying attention, you might miss them. But when you do notice – when you really look – they stay with you.

Mark put his arm around me while we were singing our hearts out side by side – and the tears of gratitude came. I am such a soppy sod.

Tomorrow it’s back to work early for me, and in the SHAC at 10. I hope you have time to join me. But if you’re busy, I totally get it!

There is so much I want to do work wise. So many ideas I want to draw up and try out. But just for a week I am going to park Clarity, and focus on family. Maybe between Christmas and New Years I will have time to put pen to paper…and maybe it can wait until January.

Note to self: must wrap some presents tomorrow!

Love and Clarity

Barb x x x