I am sitting in my usual blogging place, the middle seat of the library table at the Alliance Française in Perth while J does his 90-minute language class. It's a typical late Perth afternoon, about 40c and a little sweltering, and as I've been straining to hear my boss on my mobile phone as she wanders in and out of traffic, there may be sweat droplets dripping down the side of my face and my silk dress feels a little sticky. Yep, just another glamorous day in the life.
Monday through Friday has been pretty full-on. It's the first time in a decade that I've been back to near full-time work. However, I have been incredibly lucky to have a supervisor who walks the walk about having a work/life balance, so this balance thing isn't feeling too elusive, it's just requiring mixing things up a little, some fine-tuning, and trying not to assume the worst when J doesn't answer his phone after 12 attempts.
The mixing it up a little has meant that my usual post school drop-off hour-long beach runs twice a week are now two 5:30 am fast jogs around the neighbourhood. Well, that hasn't been quite working physically or mentally so I decided to add a couple of early Saturday morning Attack classes with a friend two days ago, and today I could just about walk down the stairs without wincing. I'm thinking that I may try to fit in a spinning class while J is at his tennis lesson on Tuesdays, I'll see how that goes. It's that or give in to gravity for good and I'm not ready for that.
The mixing it up a little has also meant that I found myself mopping the kitchen floor at 6:00 am one day last week just because there was no other time when it was going to happen. The mixing it up also means that J is getting himself to and from school now (see above: not assuming the worst when he hasn't answered his phone after 12 attempts).
The mixing it up has also meant that a really fantastic way to start every Sunday is with a quick morning swim/float in the ocean before breakfast. Thankfully C2 and J think that's a grand idea too. Truth be told, C2 has been doing that for a while now. It also means squeezing in a glass of wine with a friend on a Friday night while our boys are playing tennis and having a sausage sizzle, but still getting home in time to watch the last hour of "Better Homes and Gardens".
Mixing it up has also meant missing Skype calls with my mum and best friend in London because the timing keeps failing us. That part is not so good. Neither is realizing how long it's been since I did my roots, or blogged, or dusted.
But I am confident that somewhere in the middle of all of the above is balance, and I think I'm getting close to it.
