Temporary Family Person

I spent the second half of my Christmas break in Innsbruck as I have done the past 4 years. Before, I never wanted to "waste" my precious annual leave on the typically very slow first week of the new year when many people are still off and business has not really jumped into gear. After meeting my favourite Tyrolean aka Highflyer things changed and I now spend New Years Eve and the days following it with him and his teenage sons and it has become a fun tradition. A few months ago, a friend told me she "admired" me for managing this temporary "stepmum" situation so well, but it really could not be easier and his sons (as is his daughter who lives in Vienna) are lovely and easy to get along with so it really is a win-win-situation for me and I see myself as a kind of cool (hopefully) aunt rather than a mother figure in their lives anyway. The three men are all way sportier than I am and so I chose which activities to participate in with them and when to do my own thing like spend half a day downtown on my own while they are on the slopes or in a swimming pool with crazy slides all day. One of his sons is as messy and forgetful as his father and I'd lie if I said I didn't look forward to my comparatively clean and tidy everyday existence with Highflyer in suburbia or on my own in my flat in Vienna once we go our separate ways again, but I do enjoy family life in small doses.