Do you want a child?

They say that at the moment you have a child, you can no longer imagine how you lived without them. Now I can't imagine a life without their love, but I still remember quite well how it was before.

A washing machine that only ran once a week, max twice, the dishwasher that you turned on in the evening just for show, but was only filled for 60%, always just doing groceries for a day, deciding for yourself when to go to sleep, how long you do that, and when you wake up, music on when you get up... No idea why, but as soon as you have children, that phenomenon of putting on music disappears. I think it's because you already have an overdose of noise. I remember that I didn't have children yet and I wished my mother-colleagues who didn't work on Wednesdays ’a nice day tomorrow“. They always scoffed: ”Nice day? Nice dày? You still don't have children. Wednesday is hell.“

In the meantime, I can talk about the insane Wednesday and I have to laugh when Kiki calls me, say, around half past three to discuss a topic. Therefore, for everyone who is toying with the thought of flushing the pill strip down the toilet: read the report of just another Wednesday in June.

We get up. While I squeeze the oranges, I read three newspapers. Yes, it takes that long when you want to provide five people with vitamins.

Brushing hair, brushing teeth, snack. Do you have everything? I'm going to the doctor with my youngest because she suddenly is so deaf that I'm shouting what she wants on her bread at a sound level as if she's unexpectedly crossing the highway. Or if my beloved wants to walk by her class to say that she's a bit late.

We go to the doctor. In the waiting room, they are busy with the Guinness Record of how many people you can stack in a room of four by five. Beloved calls. My youngest's class is empty. Sh*t. Sports day. Totally forgotten. I message the teacher. We'll come there later. And where is it actually? We'll just walk home for a bit, then we'll join the conga line that is called the waiting room. Laptop open, I type two pieces.

Mothers on the app. Sports day is canceled.

Back to the doctor. Ear infection. Girl to school. Laptop open again. I have another hour and a half for myself. Dog at my feet. He wants something too. I type until a quarter to twelve, then half an hour with the dog and then the kids come.

We need to go to the pharmacy. Or if that can also be done by bike. If we pedal hard, we just make it, because horseback riding and Evening4Days. At the pharmacy, it takes and takes, and oh, now that we're here, we immediately pick up my dresses from the dry cleaner. And we also stop by Marqt. We bike back very fast. Bad for my heart, this route, because my youngest just got a new bike that is actually a bit too big and a quail has sharp hearing compared to her, so my “Watch out, a car!” and “The traffic light is reeeed” she doesn't hear.

Home. Rain. No key. Forgot. I dump my bag out. And again. I ring the neighbors. Not home. I message the neighbors. “We're in Marbella, sorry.” When my daughter asks “Are we on time for horseback riding?” crying and laughing are fighting very hard for first place. Because the dog is inside and I have to pick up my oldest daughter at 3:00 PM and my car key is of course also at home. We flee to a neighbor friend. Diet Coke and watermelon “what do we do now?” and “of course you can borrow my car.”.

Then an idea. The neighbors across the street must have the key to my neighbors. Then I'll break in and grab my key anyway. It works. Pick up the child, back past the house, put on riding boots, take caps, foot on the gas pedal and to the riding school. Riding, walking, petting horses, we have to go. Walk the dog, heat up soup (you sometimes have to make it a bit easy for yourself) and to the Evening4Days.  Beloved is stuck in traffic. We are each at our starting block. On the minute, I hear his tires driving into our street. Biking, panting, sweating, pushing. The Evening4Days suddenly brings peace. Just ten kilometers with nothing on our minds, nowhere to be on time. Just walking.

Well, that. Nice day, right?