Sunday Supplement

So it was just the three of us "sleeping over" at ours last night: Nikki, me, and Blythe. Natalie had gone back to halls in case there was anything going on late evening or early morning that she shouldn't miss out on.

I have to be honest and say that felt kinda strange, and I think Blythe felt the same way too, waking up to Sunday breakfast without her sister. This is the start of what we all knew would be a weird time, when our relationships with each other all shift around to allow for the fact that one of my daughters is embarking on an exciting new chapter of her life while the other one is carrying on with the same life she had before, but without the comforting presence of her older sister for the first time in almost 14 years.

After breakfast we all split off as usual to do our own thing - Blythe on the XBox, Nikki and I went out to cut the lawn (a new 20-metre extension allowing us to cut down the weeds around the end of the garage for the first time this season) after which I repaired to the study to put the final final touches to it, in preparation for the carpet being fitted tomorrow.

I noticed today my desk calendar, sitting on one of the bookshelves that has a temporary home in our bedroom, was still set to May 25 - the day before our housewarming party and the last day the study was used as a study. From tomorrow we can finally begin the repopulation process and get back to some semblance of normality in the rest of the house. I retrieved the last few tools from the room, fixed the final two lengths of creaky floorboard and applied some sealer to the tops of the skirting board that still had small gaps and that was it. Good to go!

Picked Natalie up at 2.30 so she could have dinner with us, and we spent the afternoon watching a movie together, and then it was time for them both to pack up. Nat's hall is holding a (free!) "pizza and wine" evening to get everyone together, which sounds like fun. For Blythe and I it was a rather unusual drive back to Yorkshire. I never expected Natalie's move to Uni to redefine MY relationship with my younger daughter, but in a strange way it has. Since Blythe was born I've very rarely spent time with either of them on their own, and when I have it's been mainly with Natalie. As far as I can remember the only long period Blythe and I have been alone together was on our trip to Bath when Nat had an NYGE course and we went along and did our own thing for 4 days. So for all these years, it's been me/us and "the girls" whereas now, at least for some of the time, we'll have Blythe on her own.

I don't really know what I'm trying to say here, and I'm conscious that it's a bit of a ramble. These are times of change for all of us. In a lot of ways, it'll be hardest on Blythe. Natalie has the excitement of a new place, new friends and new activities. Life for Nikki and I, for 13 days out of every 14, continues pretty much as before. Blythe has to carry on with the "same old, same old," but on her own. It'll be tough. But she's tough, she has some good friends, and she knows we're always here - only a phone call, and MSN message, or a short car ride away - when she needs us.