I feel so blessed to have my children. They're sparkly, hilariously funny, bright, passionate, quick, curious, polite, charming, thoughtful, generous, kind and fantastic fun to hang out with. They accept me as I am, warts, wheels and all. My life would be very different without them. I would be coping far less well if they were not here.
Annika is in Washington for a couple of days. The kids and I went to see Night at the Museum 2 in the Swindon Empire with its gleaming new automatic doors, courtesy of me, although I was a little disappointed to observe there was no plaque with my name on it. The film itself was real fun (and free. I had two vouchers and Griffin went as my carer, using my CEA card). Yes, it was completely predictable. Yes, the story was very simple. But it was great. I laughed a lot.
Later that evening Griffin had Tae-Kwondo in a nearby town. He's a black stripe and cannot take the next grade, black belt, until he's fourteen. I'm in awe of his incredible determination and discipline. Arden and I waited in the car, playing Super Mario against each other on the Nintendo DS. She thrashed me at five of the six games in the tournament. This is the gorgeous girl who is a great horse rider and who plays first violin in a junior county orchestra that has reached the national finals of a music festival. She'll be performing at Symphony Hall in Birmingham on 6th July.
I could not be more proud of them both.
When Griffin finished his training session, it was late so, as agreed, we came home via a drive-thru MacDonalds for supper. It's a rare treat. The last time we were here was in January. I had my first ever Big Mac, surprisingly tasty. I'd been a vegetarian for 20 years until 2006. In hospital, they told me I had to eat meat or die. Despite the impact eating meat has on land use and on the global economy, I decided to follow their advice. As I was munching my Mac, I wondered if I'd missed anything.
We drove back fast on the dual carriageway, iPhone plugged into the stereo. Griffin had chosen Van Halen's Jump. It was playing at full volume and we were singing loudly along, heads banging (well, nodding).
