The Help // Ed Sheeran

Chapter 2 : Adjustments

My first week in London consisted of adjustments. Taking the children to the school near our new home to tour, enroll, meet their teachers, learn their classes, order their uniforms. After all of the formalities had been sorted it was time to explore! We went to as many historic sites as we could possibly fit into our days. We enjoyed all of the unique architecture and the castles, and the elaborate gardens. The children even made friends in our new neighborhood. I really felt like I had made the right choice. After meeting up with a few of my friends who lived near London I was beginning to feel much more at home.

Our week of play came to an end and the children had to start school and I had to begin working. The first day of school went much easier than expected, only a few "I don't really want to go please"'s escaped their mouths and ultimately they were more curious than nervous. I returned home to begin working on the assignments I had received from our home office. That was another perk of this transfer, I got to do most of my work from home. The only time I would really have to leave home for work was if something major happened and I needed to go on an inspection. I went through the files and notes sent in by those I was working with on the assignments and answered all of the questions asked of me. I then began to make adjustments to the set up of our new home without the children getting in the way. After this I went back and worked on the assignments I received while working in the house. I got a few phone calls from local colleagues to go over the system and ensure that I was on the right path. At this point I was getting a little bored but figured it was just because I had a light load on my first day so I took my laptop to the sofa and cooked up some pasta salad for my lunch. I took my lunch to the sofa and began watching Game of Thrones from season 1. I will never tire of this series, seriously its just genius. After finishing my lunch and cleaning up I did some more work around the house and actual work that came in thought the day. Then it was time to pick up the children and I could not be more excited! I was so happy to see their little faces coming out of the school that I couldn't stop myself from running up and grabbing them in a hug. They didn't seem to mind so I didn't plan on stopping. I listened to their tales of the first day the entire walk home. I listened more as I prepared their dinner and even more as we sat to eat. We were enjoying just talking to one another after our first day apart in a week and it was great to have this time to relive their day with them. "I met a girl named Stacy today, she reminds me a lot of Candice so I think we will be best friends." Alayah says to me taking a sip of her tea. "I'm so glad you made a friend! See you have no reason to be worried!" She nods excitedely placing another green bean into her mouth. "I like our old uniforms better." Whines Mason. "Oh I know honey these are a little different but you will get used to it." He shrugs at me as if its only slightly possible I could be right. "Well I like that they aren't all blue!" Yells Jake. "Haha yes that's a very good thing baby." He smiles widely at me shoving a giant piece of pork onto his fork. The night went smoothly and they were all in bed a bit early from being so tired after their first day back. I found myself crawling in bed shortly after cleaning up from dinner. I drifted off smiling to myself thinking about how I could get used to this type of life.

A few months passed and the children were making more friends and getting involved in after school activities leaving me with more time to myself. I was getting a bit frustrated with this less demanding work schedule. It was proving to be difficult, not having an office job where I have to deal with everything on a schedule. I found myself completing all of my work and house work and meal prep and even odd jobs around our home before the school day was even half over. I had to wait to make most of calls on any reports at night because most of the employees were in the states but even then I didn't have many questions so I was left trying to busy myself. I began working on seeing projects and crafting and even baking things for the school but I still had time to spare. After about a month or so longer I began to look at the listings for local part time jobs. Much to my surprise there was a listing for a flexible part time personal chef, the hours worked well with when the children were in school and their activities afterwards as well. This seemed perfect to me, I may not be a professional chef but I am very passionate about cooking and I love cooking for others to see their reactions. I decided to call for an interview while I still had the nerve, I rang the number and an agency answered. I explained that I had seen their ad for a chef and would like to interview, the man on the other end gave some available times and we settled for the following Monday. I was very excited, hopefully this time next week I could be filling my spare time with making people happy through edible art and providing a second income to my children while still spending more time with them. Things are really starting to look up!