As the end of term bears down, like the smallest shaft of light pricking the dark, dark, dark of a long and exhausting tunnel, I'm finally starting to find time. To read, to sleep, to chat, to blog. June in teaching comes second only to September in levels of exhaustion, and I write as one who feels like a shadow...eyebags like trunks, head like wool, body aching. The demands of exams, activities and reports always leave me wrecked. There are harder jobs, undoubtedly, but I like to give of my all, and the end of this month always finds me tired.
Now, however, we're moving forward and I find myself in the usual end of term whirl - parties and projects and sucking up the last of the goodness before the long summer break begins. And as my to-do list calms that little bit, it's nice to find time for things that aren't school (thank heavens - I'm running out of clothes!). Amongst those is finding the five minutes to link up with the lovely Lisa-Jo for 5 Minute Friday. It has been too long!
This week's prompt is in between.
GO.
It's precious to me, this stage of in between.
A few months ago Matthew and I were girlfriend and boyfriend, happy together, bimbling along in our own happy way.
And then in April, that changed. In the nicest, most unexpected, loveliest way. A small question, a smaller answer, and a shiny pretty ring threw us gently from 'together' to 'engaged'. And this is the in between we find ourselves in. Excited to be married, enjoying planning a wedding, and travelling through the unique delights of being a fiancé and a fiancée.
It's a fun stage, a busy stage, a stage of lists and plans and dreams and budgets and ideas and conversations. Between glasses of champagne and dinner chats we email vendors, design invitations and compare notes. We visit and are visited by families, bridesmaids, best men to be. We swap stories with our other friends planning weddings for next year. We look forward. We talk not just about weddings, but about the future, the marriage beyond. We're in between the lands of single and married, and it's a lovely place to be.
One of the nicest in betweens I've ever experienced.
STOP.
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