A nod to tradition

On Saturday night, the girls and I sat down to eat meatball subs on a picnic rug in the lounge as we watched a movie together. The whole ritual of making a sauce, then meatballs, compiling subs, picking a movie and then eating together has become our own little family tradition and it's great.

It's weird how once you have kids little things slip into your routines that become part and parcel of any event.  While Anton and I were together, we created our own traditions/stories for the kids, like fairies in the shells of boiled eggs and Anton's favourite fun-fact that ALL horses come from Cambridge (is it tradition to make your three-year-old constantly sing back to you that horses come from Cambridge every time you go to visit your mother?).

After we broke up, the girls and I moved into a tiny flat; our very own space for the very first time. It was devoid of any tradition and at times, I guess, a somewhat sad (yet oddly liberating) place to be.

It was Ben who introduced us to the idea of an inside picnic and it was Ben that won us over with subs as a dinner choice. The first time we all sat down together it was to watch The Croods.  Our plans for an out-of-doors feast had been thwarted by the weather, so we got creative with the blankets inside instead.

For some reason, the habit of eating inside on the floor and always eating subs kinda stuck and now I would say it's pretty much tradition round our ways.

A lot of the time it's just me and the girls and it ends up being something I really look forward to. Thinking about the movie, getting all cosy together and just chilling out on the weekend is bliss.

In the early days after Anton and I separated, I would spend those Saturday nights alone with girls and sometimes feel like I was the only person stuck at home, that every other person my age was out having a life or with someone else, socialising, having fun, making the right life decisions.

With time, I have totally got over that weird misplaced fear that I might be missing out on something better all the time.  I don't know why I felt that way, but to say i'm generally a FOMO sufferer is putting it mildly.

Now I can't wait for a chance to put the 'tradition' card into play and do nothing but watch telly and eat with my favourite girls. Sometimes Ben makes it along, my sister and nieces have gotten involved before and that's great, but if it's just the three of us keeping each other company and generally having a laugh, well that's pretty great too. xx