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Where is everyone?

24th April 2013 by Helena 4 Comments  

It was impossible to predict how I would feel once back home, having left my three children behind in England.
It has only been two days but so far I feel rather flat. Their rooms of course are a constant reminder of them, and I am going to have to transform them into something other than ‘practically empty children’s rooms’. A yoga room for example, and a library. Maybe a movie room? Or a dressing room?
Funnily enough it is a little bit like being chucked. Every time I am reminded of the fact that they’re not here, I feel a twinge somewhere in my chest. I only feel better if I am doing something vaguely related to them, such as ordering tuck or planning flights to see them.
A friend told me that when you send your children to boarding school, you’re only ever as happy as your most miserable child. By that token I should be ecstatic. Leo told me last night school was “brilliant”. Granted he has only had two days, but it’s a good start. The girls are now into their second week and the only complaint is about the lack of food. “You know they only feed you THREE times a day?” Olivia told me the other night in a state of shock. Bea just sent me a voice message on BBM telling me how good my cooking is before adding “is there anyone out there who could send me some tuck?”
Next week I head back for their first exeat, I can’t wait to see them, I wonder if they will seem very different. Their lives have been totally transformed. Instead of sitting in their rooms at the weekend on Facebook the girls are now playing rounders, participating in flamenco evenings, going to plays and looking for food.
Leo is already in the cricket team, reason enough for him to leave his school here was that he wasn’t selected. He will be spending this term playing matches all over the home counties in his smart new whites. Here he is with his cricket ball he day before we left for school.
However sad I am not to have them here, I am very happy they are there, if that makes sense.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2013


Filed Under: blog --> Tagged With: everyone, where

4 thoughts on Where is everyone?

  • Rosemary Wilmot says:
    26th April 2013 at 9:24 am

    It does leave a hole in your lives when they go. They gain from it. We lose their company (and some of the stroppy behaviour). When they come home you will have to take out a loan to feed them !! You will be thrilled by their company.
    And feel pangs in your chest when they go. As long as they are happy and they thrive that’s the main thing. A different story of course if they didn’t fingers crossed for them.
    We must have a coffee at some point when you are in London. Love R xx

  • Sarah s says:
    26th April 2013 at 11:45 pm

    Dear Helena
    My son has nearly finished three years as a weekly boarder. He says it was the greatest experience of his life (he is only 16!) and it has enriched his character in so many ways. For me sending him away it has been one of the worst experiences, I have found it so emotional (empty room syndrome) and missed his company terribly even though I have two younger children still at home , however I have found since having children that doing the best you possibly can for your offspring isn’t always easy ! Best of luck, I feel for you and it definitely makes the times you do see them “quality ” time as well as empty fridge time….
    Best wishes.

  • Helena says:
    26th April 2013 at 11:45 pm

    Thanks Rosemary, so far they are all really happy, which makes it all worthwhile. Am really missing them but will see them on Friday, less than a week to go! Brief visit though, just for the weekend xx

  • Helena says:
    26th April 2013 at 11:49 pm

    Thanks Sarah, I am still getting used to things, the house does seem SO empty and the fact that they are so very far away is tough but I agree that if you know it’s the best thing for them then as a parent you have to do it. When I spoke to Leo last he sounded so grown-up. Rosemary love the fridge comment, both girls seem to be permanently hungry!!

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor in chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. Helena is working on a thriller called Thin Ice that will be published in 2021 as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

Her latest non-fiction work Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles came out in hardback in 2016 and in paperback in April 2018.

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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