Sarah brushed her long blonde hair, grabbed a scrunchie and put it into a high ponytail. She sighed as she stood up and left her bedroom. Walking quietly along the landing, she stopped at her boy's room and listened for any noise, to indicate both her children were awake. There was nothing, so she continued to sneak down the stairs so she could make a cup of coffee, and perhaps drink it warm this morning.
It was 6.30 am, surely she would be safe enough this morning to put the kettle on?
She filled the kettle switched it on and waited for it to boil. All good so far. She was even able to get her cup and the coffee from the cupboard. As she stood waiting for the click of the kettle she prepared her cup and then stood impatiently.
The kettle clicked and not a second later the baby monitor sprang to life with the noise of her two babies shouting.
"Mummy."
"Mummmmmmmmy." Both in unison.
How do they know? How do my children know when I am going to have a cup of coffee? How? She mumbled to herself as she rose from her chair to bring the children downstairs and for her day to begin.
At 35 Sarah didn't expect her life to be as it is now. Listening to arguments over who had the green cup and who wanted the blue cup. He's on my seat, he's looking at me, he's breathing beside me. Why didn't the parenting magazines and books warn you of this side of motherhood?
Sarah sat with her head in her hands at the kitchen table only half listening to the squabbling that was going on in her living room. She prayed that there would be no blood or hospital visit involved.
Logging into her bank account via her phone, she checked her bank account.
"Great. He hasn't paid this week, yet again. Now I have to communicate with him."
But before Sarah could compose a polite but straight-to-the-point text message to the boy's daddy, her ex-husband, she was interrupted by one of the boys. Blood was running down his face and he was squealing.
"Mummy. Mummy."
"I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything." Screamed the other child from the living room. Sarah put her phone down and dealt with the bleeding head, exhaling very slowly.
Having mopped up the mess on child number one's forehead, to find a tiny cut just above his eyebrow, thankfully did not warrant a hospital visit. Sarah went on to discover child number two had walloped child number one with a stick which said child had snuck into the house and hidden below the sofa, so mummy wouldn't throw it away, like she always did.
Sarah had twin boys aged three nearly four (next month) and had been a single mother since they were the age of two and not by choice. Her now ex-husband decided he didn't want to be a father and left so he could hit the party scene in Ibiza but had agreed to pay child maintenance to his children. Of course, this started as a good plan, because she could rely on his monthly payments being made but within the last four months, his payments had become less and less frequent, making life more difficult for Sarah with her two ever-growing boys.
Today was the day Sarah was taking the boys, Jasper and Jake to view their new nursery for the first time. She was overjoyed that they both got a place at the local, oversubscribed nursery but was also broken-hearted that her two precious bundle of joys were old enough to start nursery.
She would miss the daily visits to the mother and toddler groups where she could chat with other adults and have a hot cup of coffee. The toddler groups were like a community all on their own. It not only was a safe place for your children to play and socialise with others of similar age but it also meant Sarah could spend time with other adults and have adult conversations instead of trying to stop fights over what colour cup was to be used today.
She was also looking forward to having time for herself, so that she could go to her allotment and tend to her potatoes, carrots, onions peas and whatever else she decided to try and grow for the first time.
After Sarah had managed to get them all into the car, between missing shoes, needing a drink and needing the bathroom, she was able to get them to the nursery just in time. Expecting tears and tantrums or the possibility that her children would miss her as she dropped them off, Sarah was torn between feeling heartbroken to having an immense feeling of pride that her boys were embracing this next chapter of their young lives with both hands and not even a glance back at the human that had been consistent in the full three (nearly four) year of their lives.
Sarah sat in her car and exhaled deeply. "Now it's my time." She said to herself as started the car, turned off the mind-numbing nursery rhymes cd, turned on her choice of music, The Eagles and set off to her allotment.
She decided to make a quick stop at the garden centre to pick up more compost. On paying at the checkout she purchased two Lucky Dip lottery tickets. Sarah wasn't a constant gambler on the lottery but chose to buy tickets occasionally. She shoved the tickets into her purse and then into her bag, loaded up her compost into the car and set off for some therapeutic digging.
Sarah spent the next three months doing the same routine, dropping the children at the nursery while she spent her time planting, digging and watering at her allotment and loving every minute of it.
This particular morning started the same way as the previous 65 days, although instead of going to the allotment because of the heavy downpour that had emptied the minute the children were safely deposited into their nursery, she sat with her bag on her lap looking for the boys' nursery trip note so she could sign it.
"Right that it, this bag needs to be decluttered." She grumbled to herself as she was getting increasingly frustrated as she could find what she was looking for.
She turned the bag upside down on the passenger seat and was embarrassed at what came out and landed beside her.
Dog poo bags, they didn't have a dog. Three toy cars, two bouncy balls, crayons, one dummy, a baby bib, baby wipes, a pair of child socks, four double A batteries (probably don't work), a Rubik's cube, a packet of sticky sweets, a packet of gold glitter, sunscreen, a mouldy piece of toast, receipts upon receipts, four blue pens, a pack of cabbage seeds, but still not note. So she lifted her purse and had a look through it, adding more receipts to the already pile from her bag, when she came across the note in her safe compartment for important things, along with her lottery ticket she bought a couple of months ago, but hadn't checked it yet.
So she filled out the parental approval form so she could hand it back to the nursery if they wanted to take her two boys on a road trip to the local park, she wasn't going to say no but did consider adding a little warning at the bottom just to prepare them as to what Jasper and Jake were like when they had freedom a the park but decided against in case they wouldn't be allowed to go.
Sarah opened one of the dog poo bags and was tempted to put all the toys and boy's pruck into it for the bin but she knew fine well that one day they would be looking for one or all of those toy cars and nothing else would do but those cars. So they made their way back into her bag again along with the Rubik's cube and bouncy balls, when she spotted the lottery ticket lying on top of all the receipts.
She unfolded it but couldn't remember if she had already checked it using the app on her phone so decided she would scan it anyway before she threw it away. She opened the app and flattened the lottery ticket so she could scan it properly. After the third attempt, she was ready to tear the ticket up and throw it in the receipt pile but tried it one more time.
the little white hand with its fingers crossed popped up on the screen. "Checking Results." Sarah waited. Suddenly it went to the next screen to tell her whether she would win or lose and Sarah saw the words at the top "Congratulations Winning Matches".
Woo hoo, I have won. She exclaimed to herself not taking note of how much she had won. She was about to shove the ticket back into her purse for when she was next at the shop so she could claim her prize when she glanced at her phone again and noticed the figure, £15.
Oh my, that's the most I have ever won on one ticket. can't lose you. She folded her ticket and placed it in the safe place in her purse. She was about to start the car and go home until it was time to collect the boys. She was about to throw her phone into her bag when she stole a glance at it again. What she hadn't noticed was the "M" after the £15.
She looked at it again£15m.
Surely she wasn't seeing that right? £15m.
She took out the lottery ticket and rescanned the ticket using the app.
"Checking Results"
"Congratulations"
"Winning Matches"
£15m
Sarah sat with the ticket in one hand and her phone in the other. She stared at her phone and then at the ticket. She looked out the car window. Yip, it was still raining, yes she was still in the nursery car park.
What is going on? Had she just won fifteen million pounds on her lottery ticket? Sarah didn't know whether to laugh, scream or jump for joy, but she knew she was in shock.
She sat motionless for a moment and then looked for her glasses so she could read the small print on the back of the ticket, and find out what she needed to do next.
With her hands shaking she rang the number to get her win verified, and after about half an hour it was confirmed, she was now a £15million pound lottery winner.
Between disbelief, shock and excitement, Sarah didn't know what she was going to do next. She was an only child both her parent had passed, she didn't have any close friends, who was she to celebrate with?
Then Sarah had the sudden realisation that she didn't have to scrimp and save any worry about her ex's payments for the kids coming through late or not at all now. She could get rid of her money pit of a car and get something decent, she could also move out of her crappy two-bedroom flat.
Sarah gave out a little high-pitched scream and gripped her steering wheel and began shaking it as she burst into a fit of laughter.
What was she going to do now? Before the madness begins of financial advisors and bank manager meetings? She was going to her allotment to see how her carrots and brussel sprouts were coming along. Sarah and her boy's lives were set to change forever, but right now she wanted to put her welly boots on and get her hands dirty as she dug up her vegetable for tonight's dinner.
She started the car and decided she would call into the garden centre for more compost before she went to the allotment, after all, now she could afford it.
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