Present:Presence

Turquoise butterfly broach from my lovely friends Emma and Murray....just beautiful....

***
So - where did I leave you? Oh yes - I was heading into the Metropolis of Edinburgh to celebrate my birthday AND the publication of a 2nd story in a new magazine. I was preparing for reading it out at the launch and then hot footing it to Portobello to hang out in a joyous way with some of my favourite people.

Here's what really happened:

* celebratory champagne and sushi - so giddy about Bry and I being out together for the first time in 8 months that we yabbered so long we forgot the time and I nearly missed the reading!

* forced the poor magazine publishers to swap my slot to the end, ran in, grabbed a glass of cava, said hello to our friends Derek and Heather, acknowledged I was quite pissed and wasn't nervous and then read out my story in a most acceptable way.

People seemed to like it. People asked me of it was a true story and looked impressed when I said no.

Proceeded to talk to a poor woman about how the inspiration for my story came from attempting to show how loss can be like the images you see of the centre of a tree trunk - rings upon rings upon rings. She looked like she'd had an epiphany at my words of wisdom (ahem).

* blethered for so long to my pals at the launch that I forgot to phone Tracy to arrange picking us up to take us to her house to launch the NEXT STAGE of my birthday celebration...

* Got it together to sort it out, Tracy was down in a flash. Realised I was quite pissed by this stage - no matter. Was going for a relaxed night at friends house. Not as if a) I'd have to see too many people and b) nobody hadn't seen it all before.

* Things got slightly shifty in the car. I was quite confused about a few things - due to being pissed, yes? No. Well, yes but also to the fact that my friends had organised a SURPRISE party for me!

* Arrive at party expecting to see 2 people. 30 odd people floated out of the darkness in the car park....car lights / darkness / pale faces grinning / champagne overload / shock / adrenaline - it all got a bit much. I opened the door to get out and say hello but I couldn't move my legs. My knees wobbled! They actually wobbled. I thought you could trust your knees but here's the thing. YOU CANNOT TRUST YOUR KNEES.

What followed is strictly private (or....I can't really remember) but here's all I will say....

I laughed my head off, danced my ass off, squeezed and hugged my friends till they almost popped. I told EVERYBODY how much I loved them (including the ones I don't know) and I do remember an incident of lying down on the dance floor to 'take it all in' better.

The last Blip had me claiming I was a millionaire because of the love And friendships I have in my life.
I couldn't have put it better myself (oh wait, well you know what i mean).

I will never ever forget what my friends did for me for my birthday. I am flabbergasted, flummoxed and fabulously honoured for all their hard work, although it wasn't completely altruistic.

It was always gonna be a truly AMAAAAAZING party x ❤