The Best Way To End A Busy Few Weeks

The past few weeks have been a mixture of stress, busyness and fun.

It began with half yearly exams. I can't believe how much work I put into these exams. Why was no one else as stressed about them as I was?? Some were far more blase about them than others and I think the idea of high school exams was lost of Miss E. If you've read over something once then you have studied right? Hmmm....thank goodness they are over, but there is a lot of work to be done before the next ones.

Then came the climax to 5 months of rehearsals for Miss E's school musical.

Miss E had 5 lines in a 3 hr production. Riveting. Blinked and I would have missed it. She was Bruiser, the abbatoir worker. She certainly did a convincing job of playing the town bogan. A little bit too convincingly really. It certainly was an entertaining production, full of bloopers impromptu moments, sound gremlins and some um, bad unique singing.

It was a big week. She had full days of rehearsals and then late nights performing. It is actually rather a relief it is all over.

So what better to do the next day to recover than to head to Sydney to meet J and her daughter G for a girls weekend. We were tired and Miss E slept for two hours on the trip down. Roadworks everywhere, a frustratingly slow trip. But we knew it would be worth it.

It has been too long since I've been able to go to Sydney and enjoy it without the having the visit/stay with family complication. Didn't let them know we were there. To be able just go, relax, have no time commitments, no pressure to attend family dinners etc, was amazing. Haven't been able to do that for over 17 years. Instead, we were able to walk the streets window shopping, reminisce about when I lived there, walk by places I worked, do the tourist thing and take in the sights. Remembering when I had a different life.

Friday night we went to see Mary Poppins. An incredible production. Music, singing, settings, everything. Loved, loved, loved it.

But the main reason we met with J and G in Sydney was to go see the ABBA exhibition. This was the last weekend it was on and we were determined to get there. Die hard ABBA fans can't miss something like that!- the opportunity to see original costumes, original memorabilia. Although we failed miserably at the ABBA quiz, so we realised we still have a lot to learn.

But the best part of the whole weekend was spending time with my soul sister. Wasn't long enough and at the end of a busy week we were tired, but we crammed in what we could. Saturday night we talked around the fire for as long as we could, laughing, confiding. Grateful our daughters are friends as well. But we wonder how long they will be able to sustain this as the effects of distance take their toll over the years to come. We shared our hopes for our children, our struggles as mothers and wives, and discussed our plans for the future- a husband, childless road trip somewhere!

And then it was over. Lucky we'll catch up next week when The Major and I fly to Adelaide for a 50th! Let the laughter continue!!