Drowning

I’m looking back to when I had babies, thinking of the things I wasn’t prepared for.

The sheer weight of responsibility, knowing that what you do and don’t do makes a real and lifelong difference to your children. The fear of things that might go wrong; the guilt when anything does. The small unforgettable joys, the first-time discoveries, the newness of smiles and babbles and squashed-up dribbled-on daisies handed to you with pride. The learning to be someone you haven’t been before; the finding out how to inhabit an altered body.
​
The plastic tide, and how not to drown in it. How many thousands of toys will invade your house; how much work it will take to fend off the chaos of superabundance. The efforts to cut the volume of plastic products down to a useful and not overwhelming level. 

Read More