Sunshine After Rain

Sharing experiences is the way to happiness– as children understand perfectly…

- Tess Niland Kimber

Looking out of the lounge window I can see it’s one of those sad, grey days where a weak sun is playing peek-a boo behind a veil of cloud. Summer is nearly over.

“What do you think, Lucy? Will it rain?” I turn back to my daughter who’s

play-marching her doll along the glass topped coffee table. She makes the doll leap over my book about Hygge.

“It’s the new thing, Nai,” my sister Michelle said when she gave it to me for my birthday last month. “From Denmark. Hygge’s about making every moment special in some way.”

“What a super idea,” I’d said, hugging her. “Thank you.”

I’d read a few chapters in bed that night. Although it was a lovely theory, I wasn’t sure I could apply Hygge to my life. How could I make it a special moment when the gas bill arrived and it was much higher than I’d budgeted? Or find the magic in missing my bus to work?

Or, I thought looking out at the moody sky now, find the joy in staying indoors with a bored five-year old? Lucy needs constant entertainment.

We’ll be all right later. There’s a fête at the community centre this afternoon. It should be fun with a barbecue and a local tribute band playing. If Lucy’s too tired to go, I can open her bedroom window and we should still be able to hear the music.

There might even be fireworks when night falls. She loves to watch them. Colours are certainly her thing. I hope she’ll be arty like her Auntie Michelle.

Of course, Lucy hasn’t answered my question about the rain but then I’ve long given up expecting her to. Besides, it’s a grown-up question and even I can’t guess the answer. That’s the only trouble with the British summer; you can never be sure of the weather.