When Freedom Lasts Only Three Days

 

I was both happy and worried at the same time when my little boy started kindergarten. Especially after the first day, when he cried non-stop until noon and I had to go and pick him up. Thank God, the next day he stayed the whole day, and Veni and I finally enjoyed that feeling of freedom – having a whole day just for yourself. Don’t you dare think, even for a minute, that this meant relaxing, watching movies, or doing fun activities. No, it meant work, work, and more work. Still, when nobody interrupts you and you don’t have to constantly keep track of the schedule (meals, naps, and so on), you really do feel free.

Actually, our boy managed to stay the whole week, which was three and a half days. I enjoyed every second of it. Of course, in the morning he didn’t want to go, but I guess his teachers are really good and take care of him well enough that he feels fine later during the day.

After this short three-day freedom, we were already looking forward to the next week. But there were three days off because of a national holiday in Bulgaria, and I was worried that our boy would have a hard time going back. The moment he hears the word “kindergarten”, he immediately says “no”—even if someone just mentions it in a conversation unrelated to him. Not that it mattered, because during those three days off he got sick. His Majesty the Snot had arrived. My plans for the week were crushed in a second—again, all about work, not fun free time. I had so many things I wanted to do: working on the blog (though after so much work I didn’t even want to see a laptop), learning something new (but for that, again, I needed my laptop).

So, how did the week actually go? The little one—with snot. Veni got sick. I developed gastritis (too much stress about kindergarten the week before). One of my employees took the week off. And my mother-in-law, with whom we work together, also had the week off. Lovely! The gastritis improved after two days thanks to some medicine and diet. Then, out of nowhere, an awful lower back pain arrived. It was so bad I could hardly sit or lie down. The pain was unbearable, and I couldn’t sleep. It still hurts, though not as badly. I believe it’s because I stopped my workouts, which I don’t like, but I’m staying optimistic.