Edwina Bartholomew: My wedding song is pretty ironic now
The Proclaimers 500 Miles song seemed apt on my wedding day but it’s pretty ironic now, writes Edwina Bartholomew.
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This column is supposed to be about the juggle. Well, this week it certainly is. I’ve just raced upstairs to put my baby to bed with only a few hours until it’s due to go to print. Remember that feeling when you had an assignment due for school or university?
That’s what I’m experiencing right now; a little bit sick in the stomach, a little anxious, heart beating a little bit faster, fingers frantically typing. The clock is ticking and so is the sleep cycle of a small human – will she stay in bed long enough to get it all done?
I seem to ask myself that question every day now. Unlikely, is the answer, but we’ll give it a shot.
The writing process started a couple of days ago with a few lines on what your wedding song says about you or, more precisely, how the song you pick can lead to divorce. Cheery stuff, huh? It’s off the back of a survey revealing the top 25 songs picked for that special moment.
It felt like a good topic when I started but life got in the way. The minute I would sit down at my laptop, she would wake.
It’s almost like she could hear the click of keys from her cot. Then I would put her back to bed and start again, only for the phone to ring and postman to knock. Distracted once more, deadline still looming and, suddenly, the day is done. Where does the time go? Work, dinner, bath, bed, crash. People told me having kids was time consuming. I thought they were exaggerating. Who is laughing now?
OK, she’s awake again. I tried to feed her, not interested. We will just have to write together. I’m on the laptop. She is sitting with a saucepan full of wooden farmyard animals. I make the noises – oink, quack. This is the peak of my parenting.
So, where was I? Marriage. Weddings. Songs. Can’t Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley is the top choice, by the way, but it’s not the one supposedly guaranteed to provide a lifetime of happiness. The couples who picked Disney classic, Can You Feel the Love Tonight were most likely to stay together longer. I’ll tell you who is not feeling the love tonight, not my husband, and definitely not my child.
Most days we’re just getting by. Isn’t everyone right now? Maybe the few couples getting married at the moment are better off choosing Stuck with U from Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, or Ben Lee’s Catch My Disease. Our choice of that 500 Miles song by The Proclaimers seems ironic when we can’t go anywhere, anymore.