Donkeys Years

It’s been a good while since I wrote a blog post. I just didn’t write one one day and that day turned into months, then into 4 years, give or take an hour. It’s funny how life runs away with you, then, after you climb down from that time warping tortoise and adjust yourself, you’re further down that liner track than you’d care to be. I’m just reflecting on that passage of time now… the paradox in that a lot happened and yet it feels like I stood still the entire time.

I swapped countries, squeezed another child out of my beloved wife Sal, changed jobs, and I’m now in the middle of a career change. Part of me actually thought I’d be some kind of successful author or script writer by now (cry!). And yet, I haven’t written a word, on any of my half scribbled projects, since that first draft I hammed together on my last blog post.

My youngest is 3 years old now. You could count on one hand how many hours I slept per night during that time. Brutal. This probably had a lot to do with my inability to formulate a written sentence. Thankfully, the sleep is now better and little Hypnos (we’ll ironically call him) does actually go, almost, through the night. He does enjoy a good reassurance between 1 and 2am, every sodding night, before getting up at 5:30am and demanding jam and peanut butter on toast. Your wish is my lie in out the window, little Hypnos.

Being tired doesn’t work for me. My scattered brain can’t cope and it turns me into a dopamine seeking, procrastinating grump. All forms of productivity go out the window, as I struggle to even organise my hair. My poor wife Sal. I was convinced she was going to smother me in my sleep. I’d wake up every morning surprised that I actually woke up. For a while she probably thought she had 3 children. The fact I’m even writing now is a sign of how much better things are. And it could be worse. I made a lot of changes for the better in that 4 years (see above waffle). I stopped working nights and shifts altogether. I’m home every evening, there every morning and I can actually dictate my own hours at work. Hallelujah! I am a present Husband and Father. Mild pay cut in the beginning but no money can replace presence. It’s actually the most wonderful thing and I’ll thank myself one day, when I’m old and wrinkly, that I did not miss out on this time with my young family.

Hopefully, this is me back to writing. Blogging, script writing and scribbling in general. I am acutely aware, however, that this blog post was in itself is a very scattered explosion of word patter. There is no direction here really. No great lesson or reflective point. I just sat down and wrote… It feels good. And now, in a sentence fitting for any end, I’ll sign off with the immortal words of Farmer Hoggett.

“That’ll do pig, that’ll do.”

Chris