#blessed

FFS. My last post proved controversial. I was accused of ingratitude, and the wanton bandying of the DIYSOS principles.

I would like to set the record straight.

I consider myself lucky. I have four delightful little buggers who I would do anything for. By and large, they are good people, and I am very proud of them. Mini Seymour today proclaimed, when faced with a slide of Herod on the throne, that we don’t portray too much about him during Nativity shenanigans because it would encourage mean behaviour in her fellow children. Amen.

Boy Seymour – possibly my most troublesome of them all, today complimented his teacher on her make-up. I praised him for his flattery, but was careful to point out that flattery alone will not buy him a free pass through life. He will need some substance to his patter, and this requires intelligence. He’s working on it.

Little Seymour Number Two is probably the kindest one of all, if I am honest. She thinks of others so much that it hurts her head. She beats herself up after she has one of her famous Homework Tantrums, and returns the sweets I give her to help her through, as she feels she doesn’t deserve them.  (How do I deal with that, btw?)

And as for Number One, my dear darling first-born, she is a legend. She’s hilarious, witty, funny and hard-working. Even though I tell her she’ll never be as cool as me, I am secretly terrified that she already is. I can forgive the momentary, self-obsessed rants about what an awful parent I am because I hijacked her Snapchat. I can ignore the screeches that she emits as she protests the injustices in her life. I can even pretend not to hear her when she answers back at every single opportunity. Or I can try. Because when she goes outside, into the world beyond The Funny Little Bungalow, she’s completely lovely.

So I am, as Bruno Mars would say, #blessed.

During my blog entries, I try to be fair and I try to be honest. Do I think we deserve a visit from Nick Knowles? No. Have I written off to DIYSOS? Er, no. Did we end up living in a shed in the garden for a year and a half through choice? Yes, absolutely. And I am not complaining. It’s fun. Honest.

But I am not pretending that it isn’t hard. There are a lot of people who could do the same. But equally, there are a lot of people who couldn’t. Four kids  (one teenager), two adults, 40 square metres… no bath, no central heating, no other rooms… It is a test of patience at times.

Apparently, Little Seymour Number Two told her teacher we don’t have rooms, we have corners. And that just about sums it up. But this is an adventure we are happy to be on, even if it is a little stressful sometimes. And if DIYSOS turned up, it would be a bloody miracle. Not least because I HAVE NOT ASKED THEM TO!

This is our adventure, our journey, our mess. It will be fun to look back on. I am reluctant to say it but I do feel that we are lucky – who’d want a boring life? But I try to keep away from the self-righteous, “Isn’t life wonderful!” posts on any forum. In a world where so many people are struggling, that just doesn’t sit well with me.

But for now, just at this moment, with all my four babies asleep on The Shelf in The Shed, with a jolly nice house-to-be in the making just a few hundred feet away and our health as far as we are aware intact, we do feel #blessed.

Not #smug, just #grateful.

Now I just hope I haven’t jinxed it.

(#nevertakeanythingforgranted)