Gem of a Night

So Absentee Boyfriend got away with being absent for my birthday. And I am glad I was here with friends, one of whom arrived in the morning and sang to me with cake and candle. This dear friend and I have sons the same age, just about twenty-one, both studying economics. We have known each other for quite a few decades; ending up renting out our rooms is far from the place we imagined we’d be now.

While my junior economist is wont to pointing out the error of my career achievements, her fellow gave her Freakonomics for Christmas, advising her that she needed to get into a commodity that she could sell multiples of. We are scratching our heads as to what we could dream up to salvage our middle-youth. Cost Centre #1 has disappeared to college and CC#2 is in charge of their joint present giving, not a DIY economics book insight, but a great one called Photos that Changed the World and, weirdly, a hip flask with the words ‘Who needs boyfriends when you can have vodka?’ OK. We’ll just park that.

Birthday mirth is mildly interrupted by laundry and I have to line up a sock identity parade, the whole thing is getting out of hand, what with the addition of ABF’s now and then. At least, Tristan’s are distinctive, but the rest is a mountain of blue and grey. I throw my hat at it in a bid to get some work done and enjoy the rest of March 13 and wonder will there be anything unusual about 13.03pm on 13.03.13. The answer is NO. Not just is it no, but I have another email thanking me for my application but I'm not being interviewed. On to the next lowly  paid, temporary, maternity cover role in the nearby university...

From the Gatsby Collection with Love by Melissa

That evening I am sitting in a great little BYO Lebanese restaurant with dear friends, including she who shall not be named, Annie Oakley, Clarice-the brilliant and talented jewellery designer, my friend who’s going to Japan, my friend with whom I went on my first holiday to Spain and still dines out on the story, and our own Tristan.

With our bottles of wine stashed under the table we are a giddy mix – the kind of night out you need these days and a birthday is a great excuse to do it, it’s like a personal Christmas, and truly gorgeous presents were unwrapped.

Annie mentions she’s got to hire a car to get to south Wicklow for a horse ride next day, I can’t see that working out and insist on driving, because of course I can ride too, I bravely admit. She couldn't get through to the cowgirls so late in the evening, so we forgot about it. As the night ended, we managed to avoid all talk of property tax, water charges, horsemeat and even the Pope, who’d only been elected that afternoon. With 364 more days before the next one, sure, why not chat for a few more hours at home?