The 20 Minute Challenge

I have 20 minutes before dinner. Can I write a blog post in 20 minutes? I don’t think I can. Impossible! But I shall give it a go.

Gemma-Rose is sitting next to me. She’s also got a computer on her lap.

“What are you doing, Gemma-Rose?”

“Writing.”

Writing again? Doesn’t she ever do anything else? “All this writing… don’t you want to play a computer game or watch TV?” No, she doesn’t. She’s obsessed. I guess I am too. So much to write and so little time. I‘m neglecting all kinds of things… like my knitting. I wonder if, by the time I finish the cardigan I’m working on, Gemma-Rose will be too big for it. This has happened before.

One thing I did do today (other than write) was run. I ran on the treadmill for the first time this season. It was boring. I felt like becoming an ex-runner until I remembered I ran a personal best 5 K the day before yesterday. I can’t give up running at the height of my career, can I? Fitness is such a burden. It takes so long to get fit, and then it all fizzles away so quickly once you stop exercising. I haven’t any choice but to keep running and running…

The girls didn’t run with me today. The older ones took our puppy Nora for a walk… or she took them. Did you hear she is probably part Great Dane? Oh my! We thought we were getting a medium sized dog from the animal shelter. It seems she is going to grow and grow… I must admit we didn’t look very carefully at her before we agreed to adopt her. We just gazed into her soft brown puppy dog eyes and fell in love.

The younger girls were out on their bikes this afternoon. This is a new passion. Gemma-Rose only learnt to ride a bike last week. For the past several years she has refused to show an interest in two wheeler bikes. She remembered falling off too many times. I know how she felt The last time I rode a bike, I fell off. Luckily I landed in a bush. Anyway, the other day Gemma-Rose was ready to try again. It took her minutes to get the hang of it. Everything is easy when the timing is right.

It almost rained today but didn’t. It’s been very dry here recently. Apparently we can expect a dry winter and a dry summer. Winter is only 2 days away but we’d never know it. It’s very warm for this time of year. I don’t mind a warm winter, but I don’t like the thought of a hot summer following on its heels. I would like just a few cold winter days. You see, I‘d like a chance to wear my new coat. Imogen bought it for me for Mother’s Day. I’d admired the coat on a shopping trip we went on together, but then I returned it to the rack: “I like it but I don’t really need a new coat.” Imogen snuck back to the shops and bought it as a surprise for me. She can do that now she has her driver’s licence and can go where she likes when she wants.

Learning to drive is such a long process. I sat beside Imogen as her supervising driver for over 120 hours. Wow, what a marathon! But it was all worth it. Imogen passed her test first go, and now she can take herself anywhere she likes. I no longer have to take her to her music lessons, or to the later Mass when she’s singing the psalm, or to choir practices… Charlotte is enjoying Imogen’s driver’s licence too: Two sisters out on their own, having adventures: “Shall we pop into town to the library, Imogen?… We could go see a movie, what do you think?”

Well, I can hear Imogen draining the pasta. It’s spaghetti bolognaise for dinner tonight. I’d better stop writing and prepare to eat.

Guess what? I wrote a blog post in 20 minutes. There’s a first time for everything.