Friday 29 June 2018

Children are Always your Children!

We get 18 delicious summers with our children. This is one of your 18. If that's not perspective, I don't know what is’

My idea of a 'delicious summer'!

This quote  has been widely shared on social media, particularly as the long summer break gets closer. My attention was drawn to it by someone I follow on Instagram (@Ned in the Clouds) who has two young children, one of whom has autism. She rightly points out that not all children will be able to fly the coop the minute they turn eighteen - they may well need support to enjoy ‘delicious summers’ well into adulthood. But even if this is not the case, what does it say about all those moments you are currently sharing? Are your children counting down their years until they no longer have to endure a Eurocamp holiday or family picnic? Of course not. My children are now in their thirties (whisper it quietly but one of them still lives at home, albeit with his girlfriend and a plan to  save for their own place) and we still have a good time together.

Good times!

Over the past ten days I have enjoyed a weekend visit from my daughter, now a proud house owner ‘oop North’, and a wonderful day with my son.

All the ticks!

Beth and I spent lots of time on the beach with her dog, and had a glorious walk in the woods, collecting ticks! (Ugh - I love nature, but cannot, for the life of me, see the purpose of these hideous blood sucking creatures) We had a family barbecue, made a coffee last an hour in Costa, and watched the England v. Panama game together - cheering, shouting and saying ‘We never score from corners’ every time England were awarded one! 

Apparently we do score from corners!

To be fair, my son and I spend less time together these days but, on Wednesday, we had a real adventure. Danny Boyle has been shooting his latest film, written by Richard (Notting Hill) Curtis, in and around Gorleston and put out a request for 5000 extras for a beach concert scene. I applied for tickets when I saw it on the Book of Face, but assumed I had been unlucky, as I’d heard nothing more. By chance, on Sunday evening, I checked my junk mail, and there were two tickets! Normally my hubby would have come with me, but was in London for a meeting, my sister had other stuff to do that day and I am sadly lacking in non-working friends so thought I’d either miss out or go alone. However…against all the odds my great big hairy son said he’d spend the day on the beach, with his Mum!

Open-topped park and ride!

And what a day it was. We had ‘park and ride’ tickets and as we queued for the bus I saw that one bus was an open-topped double decker. I could not believe it when it turned out to be our transport! I’d just got over that excitement when someone handed me two tickets - one for a free burger and one for a free ice cream! Sod being in my sixties - I felt about ten again!

Free food excitement!

The atmosphere on the beach was brilliant - the sun was shining, there was music playing and there were thousands of smiling faces. 6000 to be precise - apparently the most extras used in a film in Britain. I filled up at one point - it was emotional to be a part of something this special. Danny Boyle directed us to ‘go mental’ when we saw the protagonist of the film - a musician who lived in a World where he is the only person who knows about the Beatles - perform a song that we’d never heard before. A punk version of ‘Help’ - so hard not to join in!  

Part of a crowd

Anyway, the crowd, including my lovely Aunty, who is in her late eighties, duly ‘went mental’ several times, for different ‘takes’. It was especially exciting as a helicopter filmed us while we jumped about like mad things, its shadow appearing across the front of the hotel being used as the stage. I maybe shouldn’t mention the fact that my Aunty looked up at it and, like the apocryphal penguins gazing at an aeroplane, fell over backwards! Luckily she fell onto Jake’s blow up chair, so only her dignity was damaged!

Easy to spot, and Aunty-catching!

It was an amazing day - we managed to spot ourselves on the local news (note to self: the camera really does add at least two stone!), and now can’t wait for the film to be released. My son’s Aunty-rescuing blow-up bed is bright orange, so we should be easy to spot! 

It’s difficult to explain why it felt so special but it has something to do with being a part of something, part of a crowd with one purpose. Similar to watching football I suppose.  But for me, what made it really special was being there with my boy. The fact that he spent his day off with me means as much to me as anything else. That, and the fact that it didn’t cost us a penny - best freebie ever!


Delicious!

So yes, appreciate your children / grandchildren while they’re little. Do lots of nice things with them and create masses of glorious memories. But remember that, when they’re grown up and living their own lives, the time they choose to spend with you can be even more special - it may even be ‘delicious’

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