90 Days Dry: Dreaming of Pimms

So, it's the final countdown. Tomorrow is the last day before the challenge begins. So many things happened today that could tell you about life with my three kids, but I do want to say a little more about ADD-vance and what they do. Just a very quick snippet of my day however... My husband dug out our wedding photos, to prove to the boys that he hasn't always had grey hair. (That happened pretty much overnight, at some point after the twins were born, convincing me that stress really can turn you grey. I proved instead that stress can leave you addicted to cupcakes with sweets on top, as sold by Simmons the Bakers throughout Hertfordshire.) Anyway, the kids were duly convinced that Daddy wasn't born grey, but wanted to know who the lady in the white dress might be. On learning that it was in fact their beloved mother, The Dog came out with, 'Wow, even your hair was thinner then!' Oh how I love their inability to adhere to - or even to notice the existence of - so...

It's a few days until the 90 dry days begin, and I've just realised that the 1st to the 3rd of September (ie the first three days of the challenge) are a weekend away for my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary. My husband's family are the most generous of hosts when it comes to food and -- shock horror -- WINE. And we have to take the kids, so it will be challenge with a capital Ch. It's also the day The Dog's ADHD meds run out, although a few frantic phone calls this afternoon may just about avert disaster on that front. My final horrendous realisation is that one of my children has no PE trainers for next week, yet chances of me taking an autistic child to Clarks in the week before schools go back are NIL. There are so many things I should write about tonight, but the sad truth is that I've had a glass or two of wine. I think I should sign off and attempt to get coherent in the morning! Although it might be best to stay a bit less coherent if the shoe shop...

(Boom boom -- see what I did there? I apologise, but my autistic household loves a terrible pun.) So, why have I linked this endeavour to ADD-vance? ADD-vance is officially The ADD-vance ADHD and Autism Trust (registered as a charity in England and Wales; charity no. 1158968). For a proper explanation of their work, please, please visit  add-vance.org , as I'm only going to tell you the few bits I know, and why the charity matters to me. What I will say at the outset, though, is that the founder Anne Ross, her right-hand person Pamela Reitemeier and all those who have worked with the organisation over its 21-year existence are extraordinary. They are all parents of children with Autism or ADHD and they are a testament to what can happen when you set your mind to learning and helping. I should also say from the outset that the team at ADD-vance have absolutely no links to or particular published views upon alcohol consumption, being tee-total or doing things for 90 days. I just ...

So, here's the bit where I admit that I kind of hate myself for setting up this 'challenge'. After all, I'm setting out to avoid something, rather than actually doing anything. No marathon, no panda suit, no Himalayas. And the thing I'm avoiding - a quiet glass in the garden or a big night out with friends - is at best a luxury and at worst detrimental to my own health. In a world of genocide, jihad, civil war and seemingly endless unspeakable acts, not to mention Trump, my choice of beverage seems somewhat irrelevant. I just hope nobody from WaterAid ever stumbles across '90 Days Dry'. Sitting here in my mid-forties, I can reel off lists of terrible experiences that even my thoroughly First World friends or family have endured, where simply getting up ever again was - and still is - an incredible act of courage and resilience, not just some novelty 'challenge'. Losing a child, a parent, a sibling. Dealing with a loved one's dementia or suicide...

Any idea that comes to you in the middle of the night should be ignored. If you don't manage to ignore it, but rather decide it's quite a good idea, something has gone wrong. If you then take three kids to an indoor trampoline park in Week 4* of the Summer holidays, link your idea to charity fundraising and post it on Facebook immediately so that you can't back out, you should probably start taking sleeping pills so that no more ideas come to you in the early hours. The whole 'taking three kids to an indoor trampoline park' thing should have alerted me to the fact that I wasn't thinking straight. That, or the awareness that it was indeed Week 4* of the Summer hols, that famous 'death of the soul and all hope' stage of the year for Mums across the land. But nope, I hit 'Post', so now I have to give up alcohol for 90 days. That's all of September, October and November. Yes, I know that 30 days hath September and November, while October hath 31,...