A Slummy single mummy catch up and some thoughts on changing family dynamics

I’ve just realised it’s a week since I wrote anything.

It’s funny, because blogging in some form or another is what I do for a living, and yet sometimes I forget to actually blog, if that makes sense. I get distracted by other projects, or bits of work, and then I don’t know, I guess I just imagine it sort of ticks along, writing itself. 

Clearly it doesn’t, or I wouldn’t be waffling away here to fill the void.

So, what have I been doing instead with my time? Well, I’ve was in London at the end of last week – I had lunch with Alesha Dixon (fancy!) and then met with the lovely people from eHarmony to talk about the relationship advice blogging I do for them (haha!). Then Belle and I spent the weekend in a yurt, which I will tell you more about in the next week or so, and then this week I’ve been back in London again.

I haven’t met any celebrities for lunch this week, but yesterday I did go for a lovely (and very hot) walk around Notting Hill, looking out for pretty door pictures. Instagram is one of the things I’ve been distracting myself with, so if you’re a fan of a door, do go and have a look.

 

I normally do a central door, but I couldn’t not include this beautiful wisteria.

A photo posted by Josephine Middleton (@slummysinglemummy) on May 9, 2016 at 12:38pm PDT

 

Beautiful sunny day in Notting Hill today – matched by the beautiful sunny houses 😍😍😍

A photo posted by Josephine Middleton (@slummysinglemummy) on May 9, 2016 at 6:42am PDT

I don’t think I would want to live in London, (I say that casually, as if it’s a choice, like I even earn enough money to consider it), but I do like visiting, for lots of reasons. Partly because I get to visit Bee, who lives here, (although not for too much longer as she has just finished her degree – can you even believe it??!!), but also because there is something about a little trip away that connects me with myself. 

I’m not sure what it is exactly, it’s not that it’s an opportunity to relax particularly, or that I feel the need to escape from Belle, it’s just the fact of being away from the responsibilities of home, and the course of the day being totally dictated by me, and my work plans, and things I want to do, without being constrained by the school day, or Belle’s clubs, or, that dreaded ‘what’s for tea?’ line of questioning at around 5pm. 

It’s a feeling that I’ve noticed creeping up on me in life generally over the last year or so, as Belle gets older and more independent, that feeling of a light at the end of the tunnel. That’s a bad metaphor, as that makes it sound like I live in darkness, and I absolutely don’t, it’s just that when you’ve been a parent since the age of 17, and then suddenly you’re 38, and your children are 13 and 20, it begins to dawn on you that it won’t be long before they’ve both left home, and then what? 

I have always been worried that I won’t know what to do with myself, that after an entire adulthood spent thinking about other people, I’ll be lost. I’m lucky though. I’ve managed to build a career around faffing about on the internet, which means I can work from anywhere, and so when I am child free, I won’t then be limited instead by the 9-5 in an office. I could literally go anywhere and do anything. It’s a rather mind-boggling thought, but an exciting one too.

So where am I going with this? Nowhere in particular. I just thought it might be nice to have a bit of a chat, let you know what’s going on.

*waits patiently for you to say something in reply*