Tuesday 25 August 2015

Taking back Tuesday

A few people have challenged me to start blogging again, and what better day to return than on a Tuesday.

Why Tuesday? 

Well, lots of my blogging has been with the Ten on Tuesday crowd (too. many. posts. to. link.), and Emily P Freeman's new book is about celebrating "Simply Tuesday: small moment living in in a fast-moving world". 

"When I think of where to find 'the kingdom of God in our midst,' Tuesday comes to mind. This is the day of the week housing the regular, the ordinary, the plain, and the small." Emily P Freeman

A lot of my life seems to be made up of Tuesdays (I know that's not possible in calendar-terms, but in the sense of small insignificant steps it's true. This is "Tuesday" as a state of mind, rather than a technical day-of-the-week, okay?!). Hardly newsworthy or momentous, but the stuff of connection, growth and life. So here's a Ten on Tuesday of small moments and ordinary days:


1. Bubbles before breakfast.



2. I enjoy reading this book, that the boys brought back from a trip to the library with Nana and Grandad. But the youngest Westboy chooses it EVERY NIGHT. Really child, again???



3. Pizza pyjama tea in the yard.




4. Ice cream with sprinkles on a sunny/windy day.




5. The Westboys' favourite foods, in the form of Tummy Ache cards.



6. Oldest Westboy, trying to fix a Lego model which keeps breaking: "Argggh, I hate the force of gravity!"

7. My son is crying because: he didn't leave enough space to draw a window on his steam engine and now the driver won't be able to see out.



8. Summer invention.



9. Today is the Westboys' last day with their childminder, before the littlest Westboy starts school (ok, that's a relatively momentous Tuesday, followed by another big Tuesday next week when term starts. So much for Tuesdays being small and simple!). We found a giant floral teacup-and-saucer planter, the boys chose plants, and a member of staff at Aigburth Hall nurseries helped them to arrange them. (Giant floral teacups are not my style, but it's perfect for this person).



10. My recent work (the culmination of many Tuesdays): A Cochrane review of treatments for leg cramps in pregnancy (the bottom line: it's not clear what works. pain is difficult to measure. do more research). And many many months of Tuesdays (and probably other days too) went towards this WHO guideline on preterm birth (I got an acknowledgement on page v. How un-Tuesday-ish!)


"What if, instead of thinking we have to choose between our ordinary life and an extraordinary life, we began to realize they're the same thing?"  Emily P Freeman