Winter Solstice

Winter solstice
The house is so quiet
Olga came up with the idea of celebrating
This day by remembering and respecting
The cold and the dark

So we had no lights on in the house at all today
We had dinner by candlelight alone
And during sunset
We went for a walk with the kids
In the park

We sat on the bench
Looked at the stars
And had hot chocolate from the thermos

It was lovely.

What was even better was that
When we came back home - it was so peaceful
And so quiet and so calm

This must be how life is meant to carry on
It certainly is how life was a little while ago.
Technological advances have allowed us to extend our day
Which is sometimes a good thing,
But I think - it's probably usually a bad thing.

Being acutely conscious of the sun going down
And the dark settling in
My body seems to naturally relax and
Find an inner calm and peace
A natural rhythm seems to take over

Remind me again,
Why don't we do this everyday?

Bedtime stories...

It was the most wonderful thing.
I lay down in bed
And my daughter brought her copy of
"Goldilocks and the three bears"

She proceeded to read the whole book to me
Whilst I closed my eyes and
Allowed myself to be read to by my
Five year old daughter

It was so wonderful
I can understand why children enjoy being read to

It was, of course, magical
That the little person I usually read to
Now took a turn at reading to me
And she loved the experience as well...

Every so often in life
We are reminded that our children
Will grow up one day and turn into adults
And have children (and maybe even read to them)
This was one of this moments

Worthy of being remembered
Worthy of being spoken about
Worthy of being blogged about

Goodnight!

Stop this train

"...So scared of getting older, I'm only good at being young..." - John Mayer

This is the song that I have going through my head instead of "Happy Birthday To You..."
I'm about to turn 32
Sometimes I feel young
Other times, I feel old

I look around
and everyone is ageing.
some, like my beautiful wife, seem to age from the inside out,
others age from the outside in.

I am, once again, probably just being impatient.
Forgetting to enjoy the journey
and trying, instead, to worry about what the destination might be like.

So many of us, look for meaning...
Something greater than ourselves that we can
confidently say that we ascribe or belong to.

Once we reach a certain age, simply doing what we do every day
for the sake of doing it
simply doesn't cut it.

I am reaching
this age.

And now, I will go and have some chocolate birthday cake.