A rare quiet moment at home. Aruna asleep next to me, William, Raj and Matt (visiting for Raj's birthday) are gone to the supermarket for supplies. We have lots of social engagements at the moment, in addition to domestic ones. The diary does keep me alert where I would otherwise be content to live simple, quiet days at home with the children. It is probably due to the children that many diary entries are present. I speak of these dates in a detached manner just now because I don't want to touch them, see them, hear them, I am so enjoying the peaceful near-solitude. Really I am a very social creature, I just fancy myself a reclusive little hermit because it never lasts long (and is therefore, all the more desirable?).
I have treasured all the visitings, hugs and smiles that we have been blessed with of late. Friends' weddings, meeting children for the first time, reunions, and catching up. The summer has rewarded us, if not with the weather. At some point, this little era will end and a new one begin. In less than two weeks, William starts school. It will be like my quiet moment just now, a moment passed, as I hear the voices floating up from downstairs and my reverie interrupted. Then I will look back and say, that was how it was.
My little boy is going to school. Where has that time gone. I am excited and nervous for him. Just why I feel this way, I'm not sure, because he's already been to two nursery schools and seems completely nonplussed by it all. Probably to do with him growing up and growing away from me. I am eager to explore the possibility of flexi-schooling, or, home schooling part-time (really, in our case, probably more unschooling). I have an ideology and am keen to experience it all with William, the good and the bad, at least one day a week if I can. Or maybe it will just be a continuation of life as it is at present. (There are so many reasons I feel keen to do this - and, for all you cynics, benefits to doing this - that perhaps I should dedicate a whole post just to them.)
Autumn approaches and I always get excited about the prospect of a new term starting. I don't know exactly where this came from because my own experience of school was so variable. I do remember particularly enjoying stocking up on school stationery and feeling the cooler weather drawing in. Of course, it's not all about the stationery, but one can do so much with a pencil and paper. Write. Draw. Create! I do know that I love learning and this opportunity to guide, facilitate and share in my children's experiences of learning about life and the world is a wonderful obligation bestowed upon me because I am a mother.
We have talked a lot about other dreams, our dreams for the future. We were very surprised to learn that our friend Matt also wants to build a house and make it energy self-sufficient. I have not posted about this before, and this topic is definitely worth a post, or maybe even a whole new blog, of its own. Watch this space... The dream of the eco-build is strengthening and taking on new meaning every day.
