Milestones in life as 2022 races along at breakneck pace

TIME flies when you’re having fun – and even when you’re not. Even when you’re just going about your daily existence. Lately it feels like someone has pressed the fast-forward button on life, and I am being forced to move that bit quicker through it, but very much against my will. I guess after two years of living life in Covid slow-motion, we should be grateful to be back up and running.

One of the main things that period in time taught us was to appreciate the present moment, to learn to stand still together. I don’t miss the fear and uncertainty of that time, but I do miss that. This year is going by in a blur so far. I can’t quite believe it’s going to be May next weekend. I feel like 2022 is in a rush to get done, almost like it can’t believe its luck that it has shaken off the shackles of the pandemic and now just wants to race to the end without incidents. Of course, the war in Ukraine and the antics at No 10 may put paid to that, no matter how fast this year tries to outrun itself.

On Tuesday, we received an email with an offer of a place for Ada at a primary school nearby. It felt like a really big milestone and that suddenly time was speeding up again. Coincidentally, it was also this week that she began to go asleep by herself for the first time. Until now, every night I would lie with her until she fell asleep and then creep out. It was a terrible routine, a rod which I made for my own back when my husband and I disagreed over the theory of her ‘self-soothing’ a few years before.

I used to find it frustrating but somewhere along the way, I began to look forward to it, those 10 or so minutes of cuddles at the end of the night as she drifts off. But it was time, and suddenly she was ready. “I’ll be back to check on you in a while,” I promised the first night, as she sat stubbornly upright under the glow of her fairy lights. She informed me there was no way she would be going asleep without me there and she would be wide awake waiting for me when I returned. I fully believed her – my daughter is nothing if not determined – and new routines don’t just happen overnight. Yet, less than ten minutes later when I went to check on her, she was snoring.

Another milestone. I was proud of her considering how entrenched our night-time routine had been, but I confess to feeling a pang of sadness too, more for myself. She’s growing up. My fellow mum friend rejoiced when I told her. “Attachment theorists would have a field day analysing it,” she said, as she toasted to me getting my evenings back.

It’s only been a few nights mind, but it already feels like this year is going to be hosting a lot of these milestones. Primary school in September will be the biggest so far. Something inside me desperately wants to slow down the next four months before it arrives and everything changes. Four months before her little world becomes so much bigger. Luckily we’ve got one or two staycations lined up between then and now to make the most of this time.

I’ve felt tired this week, a few aches and pains zapping my energy, a sore throat and the usual Easter overindulgence regrets. Desiring to put a name to this list of ailments, I tested furiously for Covid, only to get a negative result each time. My God, I thought, it really is just a sore throat then, marvelling that Covid really is losing its grip on our everyday lives.

Exercise fell by the wayside for a few days as my body refused to cooperate, and so I threw my hands up in defeat, binged Anatomy of a Scandal on Netflix and cracked open the last of my Easter eggs.

Time waits for no one, you know.