today walking to school Luca and I dodged Dinosaurs, sadly one of them ate the rather large dog that was barking at us.
today my girl burst into tears, school is really hard, she has Italian grammar homework, she doesn’t know why she gets so angry.
she climbed into my lap just like she did when she was three, for a hug then immediately resumed her ongoing battle with all things Mum.
yesterday Luca was in trouble, his normally smiling teacher called me over and in rapid Italian let me know she wasn’t happy about something. that something was the rude finger, and some fairly choice language from my normally sweet, gentle ten year old son.
today it was tempting to walk out the door and just keep going.
my little family is totally out of sorts.
as I write my girl is calling out in her sleep, when she was little she had night terrors, the first one scared us both half to death.
I do sometimes feel like a terrible mother, one who doesn’t check on homework, or comb hair in the morning,
I wrote the following a few days ago over at my facebook page, and since then have determined to spend more time with my family, less time plugged into the computer, more time creating a simple life, building a secure base, focusing on what is important, more time noticing my daughters struggles and my sons rude finger, more time playing together
more time dodging Dinosaurs.
Our Italian Life: I have walked up and down the mountain four times today. Taking Luca to and from school and then picking him up again.
It’s reminded me of why we came here, to reconnect, to spend time with our kids, to enjoy life and all it’s simple pleasures.
Creating a Simple Life
Walking with my son to school is one of those pleasures, we chat, stop to pick up rocks that look like fossils, pick up walnuts, and arrive just in time to gallop into school without looking back.
It reminds me of all the things that take me away from the life I want to live here, the emails, the posts to read, the to do lists still to make, the webinars I want to watch, facebook updates, and photos to sort.
It reminds me of how much I totally love our kids, how much I want to spend time with them and how often I am hooked into the computer.
The total joy he finds each day as we walk to school in the simplest things is inspiring. Today Carina came down to school with me to pick up Luca. She’s been home with a bit of a cold and it was a chance to get some fresh air.
We took the dog with us, we actually got to chat about school, we all had an ice-cream before starting the walk back up the hill. We pulled to the side of the road to let the cows pass, picked a few late season blackberries, Luca threw his ‘divining rod’ into the river to see it wash away.
It was really special.
It is something I intend to spend more time doing, like putting on the music and dancing in the kitchen with Carina. Visiting the place under the apple trees where Mishu is buried to lay wildflowers, to finally peel, dice and stew those apples, and to really spend time creating a simple life in the mountains of Italy xxx
I promise this to myself, please remind me if you see me here too often.
It’s time to turn things around, I’ll be posting occasionally about how things are going, I’d love you to join me with your own thoughts on creating your life.
I’m hoping that you’ll hold me to account, have me share what’s important
the good and the bad,
rude finger and all.
