It Takes a Village...

I'm writing this from my bed, day TWELVE in my bed.  I have been taken down by the flu, like I've never had it before, which then morphed itself into an inner and outer ear infection.  So needless to say, with fever, migraines and dizziness, I have been rendered completely useless as a working mum of 3.

My husband jumped in day 1 and stayed home, which isn't really possible with his line of work.  Not that he had a choice, and, bless him, he gave it his all, but let's just say going downstairs would have made my head hurt more.  I would think I was slightly better, and get up to try and do something, which would set me back even further.  My need to control and fight my illness was trapping me in a vicious cycle where I was only getting worse.  

So I asked for help.  I sent one message to my friend, Kate, asking her to take my kids to school.

Within hours it was if my little village of Clapham had come to our family's rescue.  Friends notice when you're not there, and they care. Messages were coming in telling me to stay in bed because my children would be taken to and from school, invited for playdates and fed dinner. My business partner ran around London doing both of our jobs. Food and earache remedies were dropped at my house.  Bouquets of FLOWERS were hand delivered, just to cheer me up.  

Like the rest of you, I'm constantly trying to juggle it all.  School runs, homework, (sometimes) balanced meals, play dates, after school activities, school projects, not to mention quality time with the littles...the list goes on and on.  Only, I was suddenly at I point where I couldn't go on.  My lesson learned this week:

DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR HELP.

I'm still not 100% but I'm functioning, albeit slowly.  Offers to help are still coming in, and  I'm gratefully accepting them without feeling guilty.  Because sometimes, we just need to give in and rest to get better.  How else am I going to get back to my old, controlling self?! 

And a few days from now, I may notice a friend with bags under her eyes after a sleepless night, and I'll happily scoop up her kids for an evening.  We need to lean on each other, because it really does take a village to raise a child.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to my dear friends in my adopted village.