Flowers for the ' teacher'

In my shorts pocket today I found a plastic telescope, a lump of blu tack, and a small bunch of pigeon feathers. The soles of my feet were coated with pine sap that didn't want to come off, despite being scrubbed.

My arms were filled with flowers, my bag with chocolates, and my heart with play dough and puzzle pieces. After the nursery 'graduation' I was so late leaving for home and my massage client that I begged a lift from a parent. I asked her to drop me off at my local church. A funeral party was just emerging, and several young women were walking along the road in their tight black dresses, asking

"Does my bum look big in this?"

It was a perfect cartoon moment, with the sun beating down and me carrying so many flowers that I wondered if I were going to my own funeral!

I arrived at the same moment as my client. I cooled down and put up the massage table, having placed all the flowers in the sink until I could envase them (see what I just did )?

So, yes, it must cost a fortune to be a parent now, all those flowers and chocolates, but I have loved all my key children ( all boys this year)and many others too, and been a reflective practitioner. Some of my moments of greatest happiness this year have been when I've had all 'my' boys in nursery at the same time, and we can settle down to a game of trains, dinosaur facts, jigsaws, pumpkin slicing, den making and Superheroes!