Today was sports day at the boy's school. Sports day takes precedence over deadlines, enormous workload and - oops - a miscalculation about how many working days there happen to be in this week. (Same as other weeks. You'd think I'd know by now...)
So it was an afternoon of not working and standing on a hot and sunny field watching organised chaos unfold as 120 children milled about, shouted, occasionally ran a race, and waited for the ice pops that were their reward at the end of it all. It was an afternoon of ignoring all the things I should have been working on. But it was also an afternoon of choosing to be there for the boy, cheer him on and enjoy the sunshine. Despite the sunburn (mine, not his - another oops) I feel very lucky to have the choice.
I'm reminded of a quote I came across recently, attributed to Patricia Clafford:
The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow, but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work.
Sports day may not have the beauty of a rainbow, but being there for the boy was priceless.
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