Static Dad

So seeing as it’s been over 12 months since I last wrote a proper blog post which was a rather final one, at least in terms of my marriage I wanted to post a more upbeat update on how it’s possible to transform your life in a little over 12 months no matter how hard things might seem…

Since that last blog post we all ended up back in the UK rather sooner than any of us expected due to what I could see coming with Covid. I drove back with all the possessions I could cram into the old family car and was on UK soil in early March 2020 after driving as fast and safely as I could before the world changed forever 😮

I’d amazingly managed to get myself a large flat back at the coast in Newcastle sorted that most importantly had a bedroom for each of my children. I did this whilst still in Spain via the wonders of the internet and the help of a good mate who did an in person visit for me to check it at least resembled the pictures. The rest of my lot got one of the last flights back a week or so after me then bunkered down in a house they’d also found to rent nearby.

A few days after they had returned, on March 23, Boris announced the first UK lockdown as we were all trying to adjust to our new ‘normal’. We then decided to add a precautionary additional minimised contact between myself and the kids in case one of us parents got sick and needed to look after the 3 children full time as we really didn’t know if this thing was going to be actual plague like 😬 Talk about coming back to reality with a bump after having spent most of the last few years travelling around Europe in a motorhome and doing what we wanted when we wanted!

We all did our best to adjust to this new normal and I have to say we all found it rather surreal to suddenly see UK school children being homeschooled and their parents suddenly also remote working after evangelising about all this stuff for years 😆 Thankfully for those suddenly thrown into homeschooling they had the likes of Joe Wicks and the BBC fully behind them which was incredible to see but I couldn’t help thinking that this would have been great if it was offered as a full time alternative to mainstream schooling not just as a stop gap in such crazy circumstances 🤔

Anyway, thankfully my two eldest managed to get places at the local high school as they were actually keen to go back into ‘the system’ to see what high school was like. When they were finally allowed, they headed back in to be with friends both old and new which was great for them and I’m pleased to say they have both thrived. I’m confident the last few years of homeschooling, self directed learning and travel have instilled some great habits and confidence in them to help them on their respective future life journeys 👏

Their wilder younger sister has stayed homeschooled for now but has combined this with going to a local forest school and is flourishing too especially having made great friends with a newly converted homeschooled girl that’s staying homeschooled going forward 🙂

As for the adults in all this, I think we both did our best to keep things as civil as possible and I’d like to think we did pretty well… overall 😬 The divorce process is currently very nearly completion and I think both sides are happy with the outcome, especially given what could have happened, like other divorces we have heard about amongst friends and peers!

Looking to the future, I have actually managed to find an amazing new partner during lockdown who amongst many other things has got me back into mountain biking, running and even rollerblading! Things have gone so well with R (as she will be known on here) that I’m actually currently in the process of buying a house with her ☺

I obviously had no idea how dramatically things would change just over 12 months ago when I last posted on here, not only for myself and my family but the world as a whole however I’m incredibly optimistic about the future again with Covid case numbers plummeting around the world and how resilient I know the human body and mind can be 👍

The last 12 months have been incredibly tough for so many people and I’m fully aware both myself and those closest to me have been far more fortunate than most during this time. However, hopefully some of the above is in some way cathartic even if it might not seem it now on a cold February morning here in the UK – it’s 4c in the day!

Seriously, if this middle aged man can go from the break up of his marriage and family whilst living what he thought was his ‘dream’ life in Spain to starting afresh in the UK and end up with even more zest for life than before then there’s surely hope for all of us 😂

I wish you well, wherever and whoever you are for the rest of 2021 and beyond. This too shall pass as they say 🙏

P.S. My contact form is always available for anyone whose looking for a second opinion or sounding board on any life matters even if we have never met 📨