Tag: happy birthday

quiet birthdays and creamy cakes

pink green and yellow ribbon illustration
Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com

When you are eight you dream of mountains

Of presents wrapped in glitzy paper,

A bike with a voluminous bow on the handlebars

And a cake in the shape of Ed the Duck.

When you are eighteen you just wish for booze,

A night on the tiles, with shots and kebabs

And on the the age of twenty eight

Where things are a bit quieter, and you ask

For some sensible clothes for work

And boots and a rain jacket too.

Now I’m heading to forty, just two years to go –

And I think most people have forgotten

But now I take pleasure in the small things,

Some books from the charity shop

And a cake topped with strawberries and cream.

Thirty eight seemed so old, but now

It seems so wonderfully full.

I turned thirty eight today and I knew it was going to be a bit of a wash out because we’re all recovering from COVID and dad’s off on a trip with his friends.

However, I did venture out to the supermarket and so I also hit Matalan and the charity shops to get books and sensible trousers for work.

I had to smile at myself because I felt wonderfully happy and content. When I was drinking, I always wanted fireworks and crazy highs and having a bit of a naff birthday would have resulted in a meltdown where I blamed everyone around me for not loving me enough.

Today, I’m here with a Mug Shot cheesy pasta, Strictly Come Dancing and a strawberries and cream cake from Tesco, and it feels like me cup is half full.

I’m just hoping that when dad arrives tomorrow that he’s going to take me for a cheeky Nandos – then my cup will be overflowing.

Much Love

Rachel xx

dancing queen, only seventeen

Oh to be that age again,

Getting drunk for the first time

And kissing boys in alleyways

As they hold your hair in one hand

And a can of cheap cider in the other.

It’s such a fun age too,

With school days ending and the summer nights

Drifting on like an endless hazy dream.

Oh to be seventeen again,

I wouldn’t change a thing…

Noah turned 17 today and it’s bringing back all kinds of nostalgia as I sit thinking about my life and his. On the one hand, I’m thinking about what it was like being seventeen myself; and on the other hand, I’m remembering the day that he was born.

It’s strange because he was born on a Saturday, so yesterday I was very aware that it was a Friday afternoon that I went into labour. And this morning, I was very aware that he would have only just been born, and this afternoon I’ve been thinking about the blood transfusion that I had in my arm as I sat and watched him squirming in his little plastic cot.

Just before I sat down to write this, I started thinking about myself at seventeen. I really discovered drinking when I was that age and I think that some of the alarm bells should have been going off in my head that I needed to be careful. But you live and you learn, don’t you?

I miss being seventeen, and I particularly miss the excitement of having your whole life stretching out in front of you. Nobody has stomped on your dreams and you really believe that you will sail through life and never get hurt.

I like getting older, and I like who I am now becoming, but there are definitely a few things I might do a little differently if I had the chance all over again.

Much Love

Rachel xx

a royal birth

The photographers clamour outside,

Jostling for position as they wait

For the couple to emerge.

A ripple runs through the crowd,

Someone is coming and flags are raised

Union Jacks fluttering in the wind

A cheer goes up as the doors fly open

And the Duchess steps out, immaculate

And cradling the baby, a coy little smile

And a wave from the Duke before

The Range Rover whisks them away

And the crowds diffuse, happy for today.

It is Prince Louis’s fourth birthday today, and to celebrate the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have released a couple of photographs, as has become the custom on the birthdays of the royal children.

Whenever they release a photo for a birthday, I’m always taken back to the time when they were born and what I was doing. When Louis was born I was working as a receptionist at a local doctor’s surgery. We always had the radio on so I recall listening every time a news bulletin came on to hear if the baby had been born yet.

The most exciting one was obviously George because he is their first born. That afternoon I walked home from work and saw the news on a big TV screen in our town centre. They were showing the iconic BT Tower that was all lit up with the words ‘it’s a boy’.

And then there is always the excitement of the first look at the babies as they come out of the Lindo Wing in central London. I can imagine the atmosphere is amazing when they step out, Kate always looking absolutely perfect even though she has just given birth eight hours earlier.

These precious times always remind me of how lucky we are to have a royal family and I am so excited for the Platinum Jubilee in June, when there will be street parties galore.

Much Love

Rachel xx