Sunday Morning
17th February 2011
How did you sleep? Asked Anita as I bumbled my way up the stairs from the guest quarters to the family home.
"Ok", I replied. "Not bad."
I'd woken up a couple of times but got back to sleep fairly quickly and, overall, was very happy with my night's rest. Anita obviously wasn't. "So you didn't hear Chilli barking at the stray dog wandering up and down the street?" Nope.
"What about Asher, did you hear him when he woke up at 1.30 and 4?" Well, vague recollections of child crying, but not my problem so rolled over and went back to sleep, so nope.
"And the possum, did you hear the chaos that ensued when the possum was on the verandah?" Nope, definitely didn't hear the possum. Now I'm starting to feel like I missed out.
"Well Kai woke up at 5.30, that didn't bother you either?" No, it really didn't. Hmmm, maybe this is what it's like to be a man, you know, that "not my problem I'll just zone out and let someone else deal with it" attitude. Possibly.
To make up for my good night's sleep I embarked upon playtime in Kai's room, camera in hand. There's something special about family time: the laughter, tears, violence and death defying antics all add up for a wonderful photography session. This is Real Life, none of your groomed, clean children, wearing white, shot against white, false and angelic.
This is reality, snot and all.
After what seemed like hours of fun and frolics I retired to the sofa, looked at my watch, then at Anita in horror: "It's only 9.15" I exclaimed. She grinned in a manic way, and in that brief second I got the message: this is payback, welcome to my world!
"Ok", I replied. "Not bad."
I'd woken up a couple of times but got back to sleep fairly quickly and, overall, was very happy with my night's rest. Anita obviously wasn't. "So you didn't hear Chilli barking at the stray dog wandering up and down the street?" Nope.
"What about Asher, did you hear him when he woke up at 1.30 and 4?" Well, vague recollections of child crying, but not my problem so rolled over and went back to sleep, so nope.
"And the possum, did you hear the chaos that ensued when the possum was on the verandah?" Nope, definitely didn't hear the possum. Now I'm starting to feel like I missed out.
"Well Kai woke up at 5.30, that didn't bother you either?" No, it really didn't. Hmmm, maybe this is what it's like to be a man, you know, that "not my problem I'll just zone out and let someone else deal with it" attitude. Possibly.
To make up for my good night's sleep I embarked upon playtime in Kai's room, camera in hand. There's something special about family time: the laughter, tears, violence and death defying antics all add up for a wonderful photography session. This is Real Life, none of your groomed, clean children, wearing white, shot against white, false and angelic.
This is reality, snot and all.
After what seemed like hours of fun and frolics I retired to the sofa, looked at my watch, then at Anita in horror: "It's only 9.15" I exclaimed. She grinned in a manic way, and in that brief second I got the message: this is payback, welcome to my world!