Categories: uncategorized
Date: 05 October 2004 20:29:00
I was going to do my wiblog after my party last Saturday night but I was EXHAUSTED! It's taken me until now to recover. Is this what being 40 is all about? Aching?
The party was utterly fantastic and my wonderful family really did me proud. There were loads of good friends there, and to my delight my nephew and his Kenyan girlfriend were able to come. My Goddaughters were there - my how they've grown - and, and, and,.... just lots and lots of the nicest people. Of course it was disappointing that certain others were unable to join us, but these things are always impossible to organise so that everyone can make it.
I was sent forth with my Smudgelets to stay out of the way for the day on Saturday. Not easy, I have to say, on a cold and wet Saturday. I must have been tired from the journey the previous night because I took the boys to Boomerang, a soft play centre, and prompty fell asleep over my book, surrounded by hundreds of screaming children! But the boys had a good time, I think, and it added to the tiredness sufficiently for them to fall asleep in the afternoon instead of getting over-excited. They'd already worn my sister out with their bouncing around by 7.30 a.m. (while I was pretending still to be asleep on the lounge floor and listening to her struggling to keep her temper with them! ;) ). But by lunchtime they were so tired that we had to abandon our offer to pick Cliona up from the station and I took them home to bed for a couple of hours.
The band at the party were superb - one of the best barn dance bands I've ever heard, and far too good for me to fulfil my hope of playing accordion with them. The poor old fingers just weren't up to it. But the rest of my body got a good workout with the dancing as I danced all but one. We stripped the willow, and wrung the dishcloth (Tom and I made a perfect team for this - got the move straight away!) and dipped and dived do-si-doed. I was swung round the room so many times that my dermographia on my arms turned a brilliant shade of red with no white patches in between, and I began to wish I'd invested in new, reinforced scaffolding for the upper part of my body!
Tiddles started the evening with a bit of a paddy because he didn't want to dance and was determined to be miserable. A tiny word in his ear that the thing I'd looked forward to most about the party was dancing with my handsome son, and before I knew what was happening, he'd grabbed me by the hand and rushed me onto the dance floor. One dance and he was hooked. He danced all night - and I was delighted to see him choosing to dance with my Goddaughters without a hint of embarrassment. Smudgelet was less enthusiastic about dancing when tempted by the alternative of running round the room and getting told off, but he joined me for a smoochy waltz and he invited my Goddaughters to partner him in a dance or two, too. Mind you, it raised a few laughs (and put a few backs and knees through their paces) when we danced one dance where the top couple had to make an arch and go over the heads of first the line of men and then the line of women, then dip and dive through the arched arms of the other couples. With Tiddles and tiny C going over the heads of adults as tall as Jonah the Whale, it was a real challenge.
To my delight, Dad had a lovely time. I didn't get chance to dance with him, because when I was headed over to his table to see if he could manage a gentle waltz, I realised he'd gone swanning off with Sophs, and then with another partner, and was having a whale of a time dancing already. When the barn dance he was doing got too much, instead of retiring to his seat and bemoaning the fact he couldn't manage any more, he and his partner waltzed off into a space and continued to dance arm in arm.
Dancing with my brother was so lovely. I see him so seldom and love him so much. And it was great to watch my nephew's girlfriend gradually relax in this very alien environment and throw herself into the dancing with a beaming smile.
I was inundated with lovely presents and cards. But best of all was the company. And my brother in law had to turn the lights off at midnight to drop the hint that it was time to go!
Sleep? You must be kidding! Sophs and Cliona and I were camping in the summer house at the far end of my sister's immense garden. Quite an adventure. My body may have felt about 92 after all the exertions of the evening, but my mind had definitely regressed to that of a 15 year old overcome with uncontrollable giggling. Goodness knows what time we actually got to sleep, but that Sophs and Cliona were definitely a bad influence on this staid and respectable old lady.
Breakfast was served by two well-trained waiters. No, not the Smudgelets, but two shipmates who were mug enough to walk back and forth between the kitchen and the summer house bearing mugs of coffee and mountains of buttered toast - and even walked fast enough for the toast still to be hot! It's nice being pampered - such decadence! And it was lovely to laze the day away with various members of the family and friends as they filtered in and out on before heading off home.
I'm spoiled rotten, and so blessed with the family and friends I have. Thank you for all your good wishes.