Weekly Scribblings #46: Let's Celebrate!

 

 

 

So I had a birthday. Did I what! Which, dear wordsmiths, many of you already know from having seen it on facebook and showering me with good wishes.

That made me pause to realise, gratefully, how many friendships poetry has brought me over the years. Not all my fb friends and well-wishers are poets, but the majority are.

It has sometimes been said that one can only have a limited number of ‘real friends’, and that therefore most of one’s facebook friends can’t possibly be ‘real’. But poetry, as I have found through conducting writing workshops for many years, is a recipe for instant intimacy. We get to see into each other’s souls. Furthermore, many of my poet friends, whether encountered first online or known in the so-called real world too, have been in my life for years already. Your loving wishes are very treasured!

I’m not much for big parties (are all poets introverts?) but my lovely hairdresser, who is also a pal, decided she MUST make me a cake, even though far too busy herself to share it with me. So I hastily phoned an old friend who lives nearby to come and help me with the eating.

Old friend turned up with presents and more foodie treats. I had decided to dress up a bit, and put on a bright garment which the same old friend gave me last birthday. I posed for her in my kitchen, just for fun, holding out my skirts. She said, ‘Stay like that! I must get a photo.’ So I did, grinning. She said, ‘Oh, you look so happy’ – and yes, this is the photo.  

Like many others, I’ve become – er – very well-rounded during the pandemic isolation. But heck, I’m 81 now; I don’t have to look like any fashionable ideal (not that I ever did). So I posted the photo on facebook and Instagram, just because it’s so happy and colourful. I was plump as a little kid, with a mop of white-blonde curls, and often a big grin. This photo reminds me of the happiest snaps of me when I was little. (‘Second childhood’ takes on a new meaning!)

[People loved seeing the photo, and told me I looked beautiful. Take that, Inner Critic!]

I always seem to end up having extended birthdays. This year I took left-over birthday cake next day to a women writers’ group I mentor – and they gave me another one! At a different writers’ group the day after that I was given more pressies. The good wishes kept coming in, on the social media and by phone. I've been feeling delightfully spoilt.

So let’s continue the party mood here! I invite you to write something celebratory. Or else to tell us about a particular celebration, real or imagined. New writing please, one per person, poetry or prose. Prose – a maximum of 369 words excluding title – may be fiction or non-.

Please post your piece on your blog and add your link below. We’ll love it if you also find time to leave us a comment, link to this P&SU post at your blog, and read and comment on some of the other participants’ offerings. (Yes, we know you know all this, but we need to keep repeating it for the newcomers who show up every so often.)

Have fun!