posted by Lily on chatter, clothes, family, knitting, patchwork, sewing

4 comments

Huh?  She’s fifteen, when does she nap?

In the morning of course :-)  For hours and hours and hours.  My eyes pop open and body stretches around 6am every morning.  It’s truly an effort to stay in bed past 7am.  Besides, I love the freshness of the new morning – the light, the soft air, the amazing promise a new day offers.  She sleeps through it, without a murmur.

And – it’s the holidays – so there’s no breakfasts to cook, lunches to prepare, school runs to make, classes to attend, essays to write …  Whilst the teenager naps til 11am, it is unadulterated me time.  Bliss :-)

I linger over my coffee, knit a few more rounds, mosey on out to the sewing shed, add some more rows to the seagull blocks, put the sleeves in my new dress.  Back inside, put on the washing, tidy the family room, make the bed.  Back outside, water the garden, gather the skirt, cut out the final corner squares, cut up some more strips of lawn.  Back inside, hunt through the lace box for just the right piece, pick through the buttons for the perfect ones.  Such a productive time.  Just like when she was a tiny wee thing, and those few precious hours of respite/napping a day filled me with energy and enthusiasm for all the non-mothering things I could squeeze in.

These days, when she’s finally up, we sit at the kitchen table together and over brunch, plan the afternoon ahead.  Its just as blissful in its busy mama-daughter way.  This afternoon, however, a friend is over.  I can hear them laughing and shrieking and chattering – it’s nonstop.  Music to mama-ears.  So there’s been even more stitching …

I’ve been channelling my inner Geena Davis a la Beetlejuice.  One of our family favourites – Jules loves the revolting antics of Michael Keaton, Abby admires the gothic cynicism of Winona.  Me?  I watch it for Geena Davis’ dress – and the wallpaper, and the teeny tiny model of their town.  But mostly her dress.  I loooooooove her dress.

Of course, the down side to teenage napping is that the teenager is still perky and energised at 11pm, wanting to know what we are going to do next.  Do I want to watch a movie?  Do I feel like helping her with this sewing project.  Are you for real!?  I’m exhausted and ready for bed!

Oh sure!  She says, I’ll come and chat to you in there.  And so she does.  Relaxed and lively at the same time.  Filling my sleepy head with descriptions of characters I’ve never met, plans for new drawings, ideas for what we can do tomorrow.  My replies become slower and more nonsensical and after a while, she gives up on me and heads off to her bedroom where she occupies herself til the wee hours.

And then it all begins again.  Oh I do love the summer holidays.

Tags: Beetlejuice, dress, Kate Davies, knitting, patchwork