18th birthday

this year I have a) reduced my work time by a half day per week b) finished studying and c) obtained children who seem to need minimal in-put from me. This has free'd up time for me quite alarmingly. Especially since last Tuesday, I have been paying attention to other bits of life. Like reading a novel. Like thinking about Christmas. Like cleaning and tidying and sorting. Today I decided to find the kitchen under the layers of crud. The bits we need for cooking are always clean but the periphery is (was!) BAD. Bowls with a weird mix of dust, screws, bits of paper, elastic bands and keys (for what?!) seemed to fill every space. There was also a massive amount of coins in various currencies. One of the bowls, once I'd cleared it out and washed it up, turned out to be a beautiful, hand-turned bowl a friend of mine made me for my 18th birthday. I was very happy to find it again and it's now in pride of place and filled with garlic bulbs. So, thank you my friend Steve, for making me a present that still makes me smile 18 years later!