The Gallery (Week 35): Before and After

In the past four years, since we moved into our new home, there has been much growth.

The garden, once a section with nothing much than a lot of grass and a couple of trees now looks lush and inviting.

A little 9 month old Sophie, that chuckled in her Daddy’s arms on the swing of the Norfolk Pine tree, now tries to reenact the same photograph (without breaking a bough off the tree!).

Charlotte at 3 was cheeky and liked to trim her own hair. The patio looked barren with only tiny tree saplings. But just as Charlotte’s hair has grown, so too have those trees (and thankfully her inclination to cut her own hair has gone).

We were a family with two children and two cats. Now we are a family of three children, with only one cat. That cat has a new favourite friend too, since Charlotte developed hay-fever and a general dislike of cat fur. Blacky, the cat, now follows Alice wherever she goes.

It’s been a real trip down memory lane looking at how our garden and ourselves have changed in the past four years. When we moved to this house Sophie was the same age that Alice is now. I remember a friend saying, ‘There’s room for more children in this home – are you planning to fill it?’! Well, here we now are filling very ‘full’ and it’s wonderful to see Alice exploring the house, just like Sophie did at that age. Charlotte has grown into a wonderfully responsible and helpful young girl, from a cheeky toddler that knew how to throw spectacular tantrums. Sophie has grown from a baby to a young girl about to start school. Dan and I have grown so much too. Dan setting up his own business, YouDo, with a couple of old colleagues and me in my confidence as a mother and woman.

Dan with Charlotte & Sophie now…

Me and Alice now…

Happy memories and it’s good to see how we’ve grown, alongside the many new trees and plants in the garden. I like to think we’re all stronger in spirit, like the trees are now strongly rooted in the soil – whereas once they were tentative saplings feeling out the way with their young roots.

Of course these three young saplings still have a long way to go in finding where to plant their roots. Dan and I can only hope that after years of living with us they turn out okay! Here’s the before… (no doubt we’ll be looking back at this in many years to come to see the ‘after’!)…