Coming up for air - Spirit of adventure

Untethered by the timetable of school terms, Caro Giles finds freedom in her family's otherness, and a different way to live

-  Caro Giles

"The nights are rushing in now, inky and pricked with stars when I open my window and lean out to look for bats. Cool air smacks my face when I stand on my doorstep in the mornings and watch the cat hop onto the wall.

I have been trying to inhabit the sense of renewal that comes with autumn, though I am sometimes confused by this when I see piles of dead leaves heaping up on the pavements. The concept of fresh starts is linked to the new school year, to uniforms that are a little too big and pencil cases full of shiny stationery. But most of my children are unable to attend school, and that lack of a rite of passage can make me feel adrift if I allow myself to overthink things. I do have one child who goes to school, so the effects of a new school year don’t pass me by entirely, but it would be easy to feel left behind and excluded from social media posts declaring relief that there is space to breathe once more.