A Mother's Weekday Sabbath

 My outing this morning was  unplanned and unexpected but totally necessary.  You see I've done my usual trick of ignoring the transition to a new season and with that the need for a wardrobe overhaul. 

 I wear clothes until they are falling to bits and clothes shopping is one of my least favourite activities!  In addition the clothes that I like and would wear are way out of my price reach and hunting for them online via Ebay can be very waring.  However needs must and so after breakfast I parked in the village and sallied forth.

I visited three charity shops.  The first was 'Save the Children' and in that one I found a Seasalt (one of my favourite brands ❤️) denim tunic dress and some children's books.  The 'Air Ambulance' shop didn't have anything of note but did have a beautiful memorial display for Queen Elizabeth accompanied by a vanilla scented candle, they were very wise in keeping the door open as the scent would have been quite overpowering had it been closed 😊. 

My last shop was 'Sue Ryder' and in there I found a really marvellous book entitled ' How To Be An Explorer Of The World - Portable Life Museum' by Keri Smith.   This book sparked a creative writing piece whilst I was having a well deserved cup of tea in Booths:

An opening page from the book.

A lovely cup of tea and a writing prompt what more could a gal need!  

Right where I am sitting ...

The chair cocoons my body holding me lightly yet sturdily, wood shaped and moulded by a craftsman or a machine?  I sit alone, yet I am not really on my own, there is noise and clatter as I sit here.  Tea cups tinkling, dropped spoons, folk walking by and the ground reverberates beneath me.  Chatterings of conversations, folk sharing anecdotes of their day or the current news in the media.  It is a happy buzz, like bees working and singing in unison in the hive. 

"Two slices of toast..." the lift bell dings in the background and a toddler complains about being strapped in a chair.  The mundanity of life and yet when I pause and appreciate all that is around me I see it differently - a microcosm of relationships, encounters and the space to just be.

The lass with the blue hair and woolly hat I recognise from the charity shop earlier, she was looking for a warm coat, I wonder if she is worried about the winter ahead? That toddler having now escaped the high chair enjoys hearing their loud voice echo and bounce across the space behind me.  Making oneself known, not shrinking or hiding away.  How often do we, do I, make myself small, sinking into oblivion, a non- person, seen yet unseen. 

 When I vacate my chair once the last dregs of tea have been consumed I wonder who will sit in this place?  This space only able to accommodate two people - friends sharing stories and updates on life, a married couple in silence, not as a result of disdain but that companionable peace of being happy in each other's company, a mother and child perhaps sharing a lunchtime break, somewhere different from the confines of the same four walls.  So many stories encapsulated within this space ❤️