Monday mornings. I always try to throw myself productively into a Monday morning. I find that it sets the tone for the week ahead.
The difficult thing about working for yourself, home educating children and being home based in general, is staying motivated and managing your time efficiently. Being pulled in different directions, with lots to do, the danger is that you end up doing nothing at all.
Should I prepare tonight’s veg for dinner? Shall I do maths with the girls or encourage them outside while the sun shines? Or do maths outside maybe? But there is some invoicing to do. And the electric readings need submitted so I’ll do that first. Oh, and I better stick a load of washing on while the sun shines. And I need to chase up that email and organise things for the post office. Now, someone is hungry and I’m back to square one.
Some days, there is clarity. I can see a clear path. Other days, my brain is a maelstrom. Alas, that is the human condition. Some days, we just function better than others - for a whole host of reasons.
Monday mornings are important to me. Monday mornings set the tone. This morning, I had only been awake for an hour when the tone was well and truly set.
A ewe and two lambs had managed to get into an area of ground, through a dilapidated, crushed and holey fence. Half of the area has been recently fenced by the owners but half a fence is nothing to a wandering sheep. Arriving there before 8am, I opened the gate, intending to walk the sheep out. This would be my proactive, ‘get the job done’ Monday morning start. But hidden in the bracken, my silent approach caught them unawares. They started running. Fast. Too fast. They went tearing down the steep hill, accelerating at a frightening rate. The largest lamb - a beautiful ewe lamb - crashed into the new fence below with a shattering sound which cut through the air. She isn’t in good shape and prognosis is poor. I cried as I drove her home.
I arrived back, cursing myself for having bothered going out at all, and was met by my husband. “Everything ok?”, he said. Which is the usual question we ask of one another when they return. “No”, I explained, unloading the lamb and tearfully telling him what had happened. We set to work, doing what we can for the lamb. This isn’t our first rodeo. We are well practiced at dealing with sheep ‘emergencies’ and work away together smoothly. I bite my lip, trying not to get too upset. When we are done, my husband sticks the kettle on, “Come on, lets get a cup of tea”.
“Come on, lets get a cup of tea” - such a British sentence, such a comfort. I have great reverence for a good cup of tea. I think of the special cups of tea that I’ll never forget - Famous Cups of Tea, one could say.
There is the first cup of tea after giving birth. Hours of agony and exhaustion, followed by the elation and emotions as you inhale the scent of this squishy, wriggling little bundle. “Cup of tea?”, says the midwife, not long after, and you could just kiss her.
The time the neighbours attic went on fire and my poor brain - addled by smoke fumes couldn’t make sense of anything. No doubt, the oxygen from the paramedics helped but the hot, sugary tea from the church minister across the road really nursed me back.
The cup of tea brewed as a peace offering following a massive argument about something stupid. Sipped in silence but with an understanding that all is forgiven.
Tea with a friend that you haven’t seen in ages. Even better when that friend comfortably sticks your kettle on as if your home is their own.
Tea. Lukewarm, with an after taste of steel, taken from a flask while you sit briefly on the hill, soaking in the view.
Tea that your mum makes you.
The first cup of the day.
The last cup of the day.
Tea can’t fix everything, but it can help.
Now that’s off my chest, I’m off to try and turn my Monday around.
Wishing you all the very best of weeks.
Sorry about your rough start! The magic of tea, though! I miss having my daughter here—we would fix each other’s cups of tea! Such a lovely ritual.
I feel all of this. Particularly the life-saving magic of tea :) I hope your lamb pulls through!