31Mar08 - Single Dad

Since last I have had Lucy mostly to myself. Dawn and Josh have been away for a long weekend in Portugal to make up for the holiday they missed when Lucy was in hospital there. I guess I have a single parent for the last four days. To my surprise it has actually been quite nice. I have had plenty of quality time to spend with Lucy and have also had my parents, cousins family to visit.Fortunately I was able to arrange it so that I could work from home. On Friday Lucy was in nursery all day and today she was on a play day arranged by her school. We didn't get the chance to do too much over the weekend because the weather was pretty horrible on Saturday and on Sunday I was showing off my culinary skills in the kitchen. It was just nice to relax at home and enjoy Lucy's company. I often think how difficult it must be for single parents with disabled children having to do everything themselves. I know at times we have struggled even though there are two of us, however being a single parent this weekend has been fine. Having the family here at the weekend was a help as Lucy was entertained most of Sunday. Also, Michelle from Crossroads came on Sunday afternoon for three hours to look after Lucy which gave me a chance to play host. I just found that I enjoyed being on my own and having Lucy with me. It was good to find the time to just sit and talk. Lucy really likes being spoken to and will sit and listen for ages. We even had time to fall asleep watching the boat race on Saturday afternoon which meant Lucy had a very late tea but so what!.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that a lot of the time it is too easy to look at our life as a journey from one task to another, having no energy or motivation to look beyond what we have to do next. That is when everything becomes a burden and the future becomes filled with more of the same. When this happens all the fun goes out of life and drudgery sets in. This weekend reminded me that it is important to take the time to enjoy each others company and to do normal everyday things together. Being a single Dad has been good for me and I think Lucy too.