Episode 4: Personal Space.

Hello again friends!

I cannot believe that a month has passed since my last blog post! To tell you truth, I'm not sure how so much time came between my last post and this one but I think it all started when I got the flu and it all just went downhill from there. Anyway, this time I'd like to write about something I'm sure all of you have an established opinion on - personal space. As I write this blog post I am sitting on a train travelling to Cork where I shall spend the next couple days with my boyfriend, David, as an early anniversary celebration. We will be together five years this year and I believe that warrants some travelling! :)

Personal space has always been important to me, and I can say with absolute certainty that it is one of all time favourite possessions. I suppose this love of privacy and "me-time" stemmed originally from the fact that I grew up in a small house sharing my bedroom with at least two siblings at a time. This meant that everything HAD to be shared and that NOTHING was private. It wasn't until I turned 16 that my demand for my own bedroom was finally heard and I got a whole room in my small house to myself. It was, and I feel still is, the GREATEST gift as privacy and personal space are so incredibly under-rated.

During my time in University, I lived away from home in my own apartment shared with David. It was absolute bliss and we thrived having our seperate "love bubble" from the world. Friends and family came to the apartments regularly but at the end of the day it was always just us, and that allowed me the space to breathe and grow. I loved living in Galway - the city, the noise, the people, the fun, the space - everything but the damn rain really. I became addicted to freedom and the notion of having my own place and my own space.

As with any other addiction, when Galway was removed from my life, it was hell at first. David and I had both finished college and it was too expensive to live in Galway without full time jobs there. We returned to Ennis where my family was and moved back in with them. Our personal space, our "love bubble" and our privacy quickly disintegrated and were replaced forcefully by chaos and madness.

Please don't get me wrong, my family home is wonderful (when things are good) and I do really enjoy being with my family - BUT, after living away from home for four years I had gotten used to the idea of having my own space to return to and my own home to worry about (despite it changing every year for a new place!). Within hours of arriving home for the foreseeable future my sisters had ransacked my wardrobe, desecrated my make up supply and kicked privacy out the door. My parents took ownership of our collection of acquired kitchen utensils and began dishing out a new routine of family dinner duties, electricity bill payments and chores. My brother, who had grown accustomed to being the oldest (and therefore the COOLEST), protested incessantly about my inevitable "mothering" coming back to haunt him. And as you can probably imagine, it was all too much in the beginning as I watched my freedom slip speedily through my fingers.

Two years later and I am still living at home with David, and the family situation is tough. We have our problems, and I struggle every so often with the lack of space. David and I have re-arranged our moving plan so many times now, and each time the date is pushed back I dread thinking about how I will cope having everything thing I do/say/laugh at in earshot until we finally claw back some of our privacy.

Thankfully, and I mean THANKFULLY, I have wonderful friends who generously offer their home to us when they are away so that we can have some personal space and alone time. You wouldn't believe how previous those opportunities are to me and I really cannot thank them enough for being so fantastic - you guys know who you are! :) Weekends away like this are always so welcomed and I know that this anniversary we will be feeling more appreciation than ever. I know that we will eventually have our own place again some day and I know I will just have to be patient until then. I also know that there are people who pray for what I have - a family home filled to the brim with noise and sisters and housework and company. Personal space is little doses like this will do just fine for me right now, and I am pulling up to Cork train station with a smile on my face.

Thanks for reading!
Love Leigh x