Return

She’s back.

My daughter’s three days of adventure on her PGL trip are over.

The activity holiday organised by her school was a huge hit.

Once we’d got through the usual blow by blow, or rather forkful by forkful, account of what she’d eaten, my daughter volunteered the following information about her escapades.

"I had three gos on the zip wire, Mum. I’m not tired. They said I broke the record for falling asleep the quickest in my room. I’m not shattered. I didn’t like the fishcake, but I ate it all up. We couldn’t do fencing because the saw [sic] was broken. I liked it so much, I want to live there. I would like to work at PGL. It stands for Parents Get Lost, you know."

The school have filled out a little diary with nuggets of information about how she joined in with everything, including scaling part of the climbing wall, swinging on a giant swing, wriggling through a tunnel, trampolining, dancing at the disco, and helping tidy and pack.

All summed up with the last diary entry: “An absolute pleasure to take away and we know she had a great time - she kept telling us.”

The adventurer has gone to bed, pink and fragrant from her shower and hair-wash. Calm, serene, sleepy, dreamy, and very very happy.

That was at 7pm. Her brother, on the other hand, has only just gone quiet after spending storytime bouncing up and down on his bed with a pair of pants on his head.

Video is The Upsetters - Return Of Django

Intrepid

I went to a meeting at my daughter’s special school last night, where some of the staff were giving parents information about a trip coming up.

It’s a PGL ‘multi-activity’ holiday. Thousands of children go on them every year. They stay in lodges, and take part in things like rifle-shooting, raft building, archery, orienteering, abseiling, climbing, and fencing.

For most families it would really be nothing out of the ordinary. But it’s an AMAZING thing to me.

Imagine this: Three days and two nights away from home, in a strange environment, when you can’t cope well with change. Days packed with physical activities, which are challenging and even scary - especially if your muscles don’t work that well, spinal surgery means you can’t bend your back, and your stamina isn’t great. Menus that contain some foods you’re not allowed, so you have to be rationed whilst others can get stuck in. And all of this alongside schoolmates whose own set of idiosyncracies, weaknesses, and behavioural issues can upset you.

I wouldn’t want to do it. I don’t think I’d have the bottle.

But my girl, my hypotonic, titanium-rodded, routine-loving girl, can't wait to go. 

There are many parts to my daughter’s unique personality. But there’s a word that describes a beautiful and surprising slice of her soul. And that word is intrepid.

She’ll have a wonderful adventure. Now I’ve just got to find £150 to pay for it.

Song is Natalie Merchant - Adventures of Isabel, based on a poem written by Ogden Nash for his seven-year-old daughter, Isabel.