I take my eldest son out running with me. He plays sport at a national level (not yet near the international stage) so it's nice to go out to bang in five kilometres every now and then - it's a great bit of cardio for him, and it drags me out to keep me healthy.
Honestly, 25 of those minutes are robloxrobloxrobloxrobloxrobloxfortniterobloxrobloxroblox and it can get draining... but it's important to him so it's important to me.
Honestly, it's just time spent alone with him that makes the difference for me. He's got some big changes coming up in life and I want to be there for him, so if he ever drops that little breadcrumb into conversation that he's got problems with his boyfriend or girlfriend, or if he's getting a hard time off someone, or if the studying and sport is getting him down - then I'll have hopefully made a space safe enough to chat freely and openly, and his mental health doesn't take a battering before it's too late.
I used to do some operator work for a major UK telecoms firm.
Because it was free, you had all sorts of people phoning it. A good chunk of them were just old folk who were lonely and just wanted someone to speak to.
It was nice. Some of us had additional roles too and we were generally left alone if there was nothing else to do, so it was nice talking about people's families and interests, and hearing their voices brighten over the course of five or ten minutes.
My dentist has had the nerve to add a "lateness will be charged at £1 per minute late" to the end of the reminder SMS messages... which I can understand to a certain degree, but the dentist didn't really like it when I suggested I get a discount of £1 per minute after the appointment time that the dentist called me through.
I know it's all bullshit but the double standard baffles me.
Ah man, that sucks.
They may have been in your world for a short time, but they have gifted you a lifetime of memories.
Be kind to yourself, friend.