No distractions. No emails. No calls. No Instagram. No news. No COVID arguments in my head.
This morning I write.
I can feel the clock ticking. It's almost 9am.
I have three hours. Three precious, undisturbed hours with Tielka written all over it.
Our three-year-old son's support worker arrives. Our little poppet has Down syndrome, so he receives regular three-hour sessions of funded one-on-one support.
I'm so grateful. He has fun, his support worker has "the world's best job" (her words), and I can work knowing my son is getting his best chance for a full life.
I turn the kettle on.
We've run out of Jade Mist green tea. I take a deep breath and walk downstairs to the warehouse. I can do this. There's a bucket of faulty Jade Mist green tea bags sitting on a bench. Tags missing. Double bags. Poor cuts. The tea is still good. It won't go to waste. Not if I can help it. I fill my tin and go upstairs.
My Jade Mist is divine. It doesn't matter the tag is missing.
I'm now sitting on our back deck with my laptop open. I can do anything.
My husband announces he will take the orders to the post office. There's too many to take himself, so I offer to go with him. Father's Day must have created a rush of last minute orders.
I glance over the boot of our SUV full of parcels destined for the four corners of the world. I'm so grateful.
Today they go to Switzerland, USA, Canada, Mauritius, and of course, Australia.
We arrive at our local Agnes Water post office, a three minute drive from our warehouse, and Kylie receives the parcels. We take the parcels around the back this time. There's too many to pass over the counter. I'm so grateful. It's been a long time coming.
I arrive home, now feeling the exhaustion. The night before I was up until 10pm, processing the last of the orders. One big order to Mauritius required a little extra attention than normal. I had to get it right.
It's now 10am. I can't quite bring myself to get to my computer.
I sit in the sun and try unsuccessfully to switch my brain off. The news. Facebook. "Ok Google. Remove COVID from my Facebook feed." It doesn't work.
Time is ticking.
10:30am I open my laptop.
I open my blog. Take a sip of my now cold Jade Mist. It's still good.
I start to write.
A surge of writer's apprehension makes one last attempt to thwart my efforts but I push it aside. Words start to flow. I feel my happy place.
11:28am and it's now finished.
Time to sit in the sun again.