Olive Branch

I was awoken by two excited voices and banging on my bedroom door this morning as the wee ones were keen to let me know that it had snowed overnight.

On viewing with mine own eyes, it soon became apparent that we’d had a light dusting of maybe half an inch or so, but regardless the snow had done its thing and made everything look a little prettier.

We had a wander into town for some supplies and presents, throwing snowballs as we went. M’boy was delighted to hit me with a headshot, which I must confess I was slightly less pleased with as I felt the ice slither down my back. They Youngest carried a large lump of snow back from town (no, I don’t know why) and the two of them constructed these two cheeky chaps.

With The Eldest under the weather and staying at her mum’s this weekend and the wee ones under the weather and staying at mine, whilst I was still under the weather also, we had a quiet day and just hung out, reading, playing cards and watching Elf. I then dropped them off for a couple of hours with their mother to watch a sing-a-long version of the Muppets Christmas Carol.

The door was opened by the man for whom my wife had ended our marriage. It’s fair to say that he’s not my favourite person in the world and up until now I’ve avoided all contact with him, but he’s been the cause of a lot of mental anguish for me and frankly, I’m tired and bored of it. Besides, it’s been a few years now and - despite his on/off presence in my children’s lives - he’s good to them and they like him, so for the first time, I extended my hand to him and we exchanged a few pleasantries, talked about the football and children being ill. Whilst I don’t suddenly want to be his best mate and hang out with him all the time, it felt good to feel the weight of that particular monkey leaving my back. I’d been carrying it for too long, for no good reason.

Life is nothing without balance. So it stood to a reason that a moment of catharsis would be swiftly followed by a moment of anguish as England’s footballing men once again exited a major competition at the hands of an errant penalty.

Such a shame as they were by far the better team throughout, but it doesn’t always follow that the best team wins.