Monday, February 24, 2014

2014: Week 8

2014: Week 8 by MAStapleton
2014: Week 8, a photo by MAStapleton on Flickr.
On our last morning of our half-term break, I got the teenager out of bed at stupid o'clock so we could have one final 18-mile cycle ride through the fields of Norfolk. We stopped at about 8:18 a.m. so I could take this picture.

Some questions that have arisen since the picture was published:
Q: "How did you get the teenager out of bed at the crack of dawn?"
A: I told him he could sleep in the car. He did. Quite happily.

Q: "Was the teenager grumpy?"
A: Amazingly enough, no. It must have been the promise of a nap later that did it.

Q: "What do you mean exactly by 'stupid o'clock'?
A: It was 7 a.m., so technically probably not stupid o'clock, but it felt like it because we were on holiday.

Q: "What was the highlight of the ride?"
A: The best part of the ride was doing it together. Now that he's 14, it's nice that we can do things together. The first highlight was I was in front of him on a particularly long hill and I keep thinking that I was too slow for him. When we reached the top and both of us stopped to get some water, he turned to me and said, "Wow. That was hard. I feel like I'm going to throw up." While I expressed some maternal concern, I thought to myself, "Yes! Not too slow!!" The second highlight was seeing what I think was a starling murmuration-- breathtakingly beautiful. I was enjoying the moment so much that I didn't even take a picture, but I will never forget it.

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