Around a year ago our little family, having been thrown up in the air by C's redundancy, finally came to land up here. Relief that a new job had been found was somewhat counterbalanced with loneliness as I came to terms with having moved a long way from friends and family and having given up what had been a happy balance of teaching three days per week and being at home with P the rest. Loneliness could have been a big problem if it hadn't been for a chance encounter at the local child health clinic when I got chatting to the mother of a little girl there about the Steiner playgroup P and I were going to. Turned out she lived at the other end of our street. Turned out that she was also a teacher. Turned out that she liked the idea of going walking in the Lakes with the babies. Turned out that she and I shared a lot of values, ideas and a sense of humour. Turned out our children got on like a house on fire, stretching out from their car seats or buggies to hold hands when we went out and about.
One year later and we've been on many, many walks; eaten a good number of picnics; many including hilariously lumpy vegetable soup and the obligatory flask of redbush tea; dealt with a few medical emergencies; seen our babies become toddlers (and tag-team wrestled them into car seats when necessary!); discussed our worries and shared our joys about family life; both got pregnant again and shared sunshine and showers in so many ways.
Today we went on a walk by Elterwater and realised that this was one of the first places we had walked together when we first met. I hardly need reminding of how much I appreciate the precious gift I have in this friend of mine, but today was as a good a day as any to think about it.
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