Sometimes we all need a little joy in our lives.
From the big joys to the little joys, we all experience it at some point. Such a little word yet it can bring so much to so many people. So when I saw there was an actual festival with the name “JOY” I knew I had to go. Now I won’t lie, I’m not your festival type. Yes I’d love to be able to camp under the stars and not care that I haven’t really washed in a few days, but the fact is I like my home comforts. My joy is actually a hot shower, electricity and a decent night’s sleep. I don’t really understand how dry shampoo works, or how you can be clean with a wipe of a baby wipe & pull off that bohemian look 3 days later when you smell, probably need a poop & have drunk so much that you’re now in that permanent drunk fog. It doesn’t sound appealing at all. However this Joy festival meant I could go for a day which meant I could dip my toe into the festival bubble without the whole camping aspect to it. So I asked one of my friends if she’d like to experience this with me, to which she decided it was her thing too. Both being very busy Mummies, we thought we deserved this time to actually stop, sit & relax. Now surprise, surprise I had got ill again and was suffering with my third throat infection, but I wasn’t going to be beaten by bugs & germs. Instead I took every throat tablet, spray and remedy we had to get my through the day. I was a walking medicine cabinet!!! So the “Joy Festival” took place at Groombridge Place in Tunbridge Wells. The most beautiful surroundings I have ever seen which instantly made you feel chilled & relaxed. Now I don’t know about you, but these two words are in fact very difficult for me to understand. I don’t chill and relax because, to be honest, I don’t know how to. I try every so often but I always find something to do, clean or sort!!! However this day was different it was spent mooching around the various market stalls that were there, we talked to the vendors & browsed the beautiful pieces they had to offer, but it was the taking our time, the slow pace of walking and the easy conversation that added to the whole experience. We drank smoothies, ate delicious street food & chilled out on hay bales and deckchairs talking about whatever. It was the not rushing around that I actually felt the stop button was in place with the fast forward button on pause. It was easy, it was simple yet the whole environment and atmosphere took you somewhere that actually made you want to relax and chill. It was a bite-size piece of time where we both actually stopped from our busy lives. Although it was only a for a day when we went I felt we could of stayed longer to see the live music, or the many more joyful activities that were planned, I actually came away feeling slightly recharged even though I was ill it was having a day where the stop button had been pressed meant I could recover easier. Hopefully next year we will go to Joy again and experience more what the festival has to offer. Even if it’s just to sit on hay bales and drink smoothies at least I have an idea how to chill & relax.
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We did it. We said our goodbyes and we left.
To the piece of our family that had been there for 30 years. The piece that had seen us through the good times and the bad times. The piece that had witnessed so much, from the growing up from a child to an adult, to the baby being bought home for the first time, to the bride waving goodbye as she left for the church. Many Christmases, Easters, birthdays and parties that had taken place there, welcoming so many people over the years. The piece of the family that had always been there at the beginning or the end of the day. It was there, not asking for much. Just maybe a lick of paint or to be heated up once in a while. Yes. We said goodbye to the “Family Home”. Admittedly it was home for me for 20 years before I moved out, but it was the home I grew up in with my family. It was the place I had keys for, and the place that was so familiar to me that it felt as though I had always been there. Personally I had been dreading moving day and saying goodbye to a place that was part of my family for so long. Of course I understood why my parents were downsizing, but there was a part of me that didn’t want to say goodbye. Again it was the uncertainty, change and not knowing what life would be like not being in this house. We moved here when I was three, and apart from my Mum, Dad & sister it was one of the things that had been in my life the longest. We had worked together as a family clearing, sorting and getting everything ready for that day when it wouldn’t be our house. The only saving grace was that we were doing it as a family and that it wasn’t under other sadder circumstances. As a family I think we all put on a brave face because I don’t think any of us wanted to admit that we didn’t really want to go. But amazingly and together as a family we did it. We moved my family into their new house and although there are boxes still to unpack and things to sort they have done the hardest bit and actually moved. They were brave and went through the moving process and have come out the other end. They don’t look back and regret it. Instead without knowing they’re being positive and proactive and starting to create new routines and get on with their lives. I kept thinking that it was just a house but in that house you make a home and from that home comes the memories. And we still have those. The house was tired, it needed love and it needed a new family, chapter and new memories to be made in it. A house is what you make it and this can be the same for your life too. It’s what you make it. It’s what you do and it’s how you embrace that change. x |
BLOGAbout meDanni Tresadern. Someone who puts their hand up admitting she has anxiety. Archives
September 2018
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