MEANT TO BE…
Author- Alisha Prien
Well, I wasn’t expecting this…
Life has a funny way of giving. Mum reckons its “meant to be” or as she would say “maybe I am exactly where I am supposed to be”. I, on the other hand reckon It’s just another unlucky period in life. One kid sick with gastro, one clingy one, who appears unwell but I’m pretty sure he just doesn’t like the other one getting the extra attention. Its only a matter of time before the sickness hits the rest of us, if in fact this is gastro. Oh and of course it has to fall on the weekend we planned to go away as a family to watch my other son’s basketball game. The timing is always the same, with my two. The last sickness incident was when my son decided to have breakthrough seizures due to his nutrition increase (via the peg) which caused a fractured leg, all of which fell on the Weekend of a planned trip to the Races and a Taipans game.
I often have moments where I feel sorry for myself in these instances, I think mostly it’s because of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). I blame social media for making me feel inadequate as a person if I’m not out and doing something fun at least once or twice a year. This year there has been one thing after another with; the business, health and the kids. There has rarely been a moment where I have gone out with friends and actually left the house without my sweatpants or baggy T-shirts. In fact right now while my partner is in Townsville watching our sons games I’m sitting here cuddling sooky kids and praying I don’t get what they have, whilst secretly envying the parents who always get to have holidays and be away from their kids. I know you shouldn’t ever envy or pity, but it still doesn’t mean there are moments where you wish in another world things were different (I can’t be the only one).
On the upside, maybe it really was mean to be (hate to say it, mum may be right!) … it just so happened that this morning my best friend gave birth to her first baby! Which I just so happen to be home for and get to see them. So, there’s a Brightside to everything. I will admit as it has been an incredibly busy week with the business, long hours and only seeing my kids in the morning, I am grateful to have this quality time with them. Despite dealing with vomit and crying, the cuddles, movies and love has been really fulfilling, especially the news from my best friend. Screw Facebook and the highlight reels of fun/Kool parents, none of its real anyway. What is real, is the tough choices we have as parents, the sacrifices that make those few free moments even more treasurable.
I’m starting to think, maybe my mum was right… in the end maybe I am exactly where I am meant to be right now, with my kids, making up for lost time <3