The time we discovered quite companionship….

It’s a strange thing to spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for close to 6 weeks in a row with your family. Gone are the ‘how was school / work’ conversations at dinner, replaced with ‘I saw this video on tic tock’ and the like. After the kids and I have spent sufficient time at the table doing school, we retreat to our respective corners – my daughter to her room, my son to the PlayStation, and I just faff about all while my husband works from the spare bedroom. The day is often marked by meals until we all slip off to sleep to do it all over again the next day.

As we entered our second week of lock-down I found a box with a paint by number kit inside. It was a long-forgotten gift from my husband that I’d been saving for the perfect time, it was now the perfect time.

Each day after the kids finished school, I would lay out my project, don my earbuds, find a book/podcast/playlist to listen to, and I’d get lost in the process of painting. As one painting turned into two, and two into three, my sense of accomplishment grew. My husband and I often joked that by the time the pandemic is over, I’ll have enough paintings to set up shop near the Tate Modern.

Wanting a bit of the mindless escape I was enjoying; the hubs ordered a 1000-piece puzzle and got to work putting it together.

Now weekend afternoons are spent in quiet companionship, working on our own project. Sometimes we listen to a podcast together, other times we listen to our own playlist. Either way, we are together and it has made the lock-down more enjoyable.