Jayne Whyte's Portfolio

This was one of those weekends where nothing mattered at all. Only the small things: flowers, the sun, laughter, and peace.

I started my day with deep breaths of fresh air, warm water in my cute mug, and slices of kiwi. My ferritin dose came a little later, because Saturday mornings are for gentle starts, not schedules.

Ty and Isy surfaced later to get their chores going. Laundry and the weekend shop, the usual priorities. At breakfast, I was in the mood to be chatty, which is very much my love language with these two. So I asked Ty, “Who would you say I am?”

She thought about it for a minute, then said: “You are ambitious, adventurous, and prepared.”

I laughed. And then, quietly, teared up a little. There’s something about being seen, really seen by someone who knows you. If I dropped dead tomorrow, she’d be able to tell the whole world exactly who her mum was, and she’d get it right.

I teased her a bit about the “prepared”. Am I like the Boy Scout motto: Be prepared? We laughed, but I understood her. I’ll come to this in a future blog post.

Ty’s answer landed. It made my whole day. Not just because someone knew me but because they knew me as more than “mum.” That matters more than I can explain, especially for someone like me who has always felt a bit invisible. When you’re quiet and calm by nature, there’s this quiet suspicion that you only really exist if the people around you notice you exist, that you’re serving some kind of purpose in their world. And being acknowledged, properly acknowledged, comes with a strange kind of responsibility. Nobody really wants that responsibility, maybe because there’s nothing obvious to gain from carrying it.

It’s been over 24 hours, and Ty’s words still haven’t left my head. I see all three of them because that’s just who I am. Funnily enough, when I asked the question, I wasn’t even sure why I was asking. I think what I really wanted to know was whether they thought I was funny.

Some of my favourite moments with them are the ones where we’re all laughing so hard at something one of us said or did. It’s wholesome, chaotic, and exactly what I always need. I figured if they said I was funny, maybe I had a second career waiting for me as a comedian, touring the world telling stories about my chaotic life as their mother. I love to laugh, and I love people who laugh a lot too.

Case in point: the other day I was walking up the stairs, and Isy rushed over to help me, his glasses nowhere in sight. I told him it was a classic case of “the blind leading the blind,” and we absolutely lost it. There’s just something about the way Ty and Isy laugh that makes everything funnier.

It’s Sunday now, and today’s gospel was Jesus asking Peter, “Who do people say that I am?” Which, of course, sent me straight back to my own question to the kids yesterday. I’ll save Isy’s answer for my next post. I have a feeling I’ll need the tissues for that one too.

Anyway, it was a properly lovely, flowery weekend. Yellow roses on Friday. Saturday was spent wandering B&Q “just looking” at succulents, and maybe I may have come home with more than the house needs. But I love the little things. Enjoy the photos.

Cheers!