Taking The Time

A few weeks ago I accompanied my daughter on a walk around Athens.  Her photography club were taking photographs of a village like settlement at the bottom of the Acropolis.  In my twenty odd years of living here, the closest I had ever come to walking around this place was to admire the terracotta roof tiles from above as I went on yet another trip up to the Acropolis as no doubt another family member had landed on our doorstep with their list of 'places to see'.
What then occurred was the amazing morning of doing nothing other than taking photographs of this part of Athens, and this is where I came to realise that for the four or so hours I was walking around, nothing was on my agenda.  My telephone did not ring ( I later realised I had not switched it on ) there was no three year old demanding my attention.  I did not have a deadline with work and it was just me, a group of teens and my camera.
What did I learn from this?
A lot
Which one of you can openly admit to going off and doing something for yourself without having to explain to your child, partner or work why you need to do it or why you want to.  Come on all you mums out there (and dads) how many phone calls can you make before your child asks for the loo? its a know fact, wont even mention what happens when your out in restaurant and your food has just turned up. Surely as an adult the choice to just want to do something whether its for thirty minutes, an hour or four should be ours to make and on doing so we should not feel the guilt of wanting to do that. I do not remember the last time I was just me.  Not mum, not wife, not T.A. not daughter or sister just me.
What we do forget though everyone we love and who love us do just love us.  So in making time for ourself we are actually giving everyone the best of ourselves because it reminds us who we really are.
I am going to make a promise to myself that from now on I am going to take time out, time to see the changes around me.  Time to watch the daisies grow, time to admire the history around me, time to stand in the sun and breath in its warmth, and maybe along the way I will share this with my family and educate them on taking it all in with me, so we can be the best of who we are.