The perfect birthday celebration

When I was to turn 50, much fuss was made about what present I would like. I replied that what I’d really like was to spend the weekend doing stuff that I enjoyed, because I’ve long shared birthday celebrations with my mother whose birthday is just 2 days before mine. So, my family all agreed to pool their money and give it to my then long-time boyfriend, who would use it to pay for my chosen birthday outing.

I carefully made plans for a weekend in London, starting with browsing around my favourite book store – Daunt Books – famed for its vast selection of travel related reads. Located in my favourite part of London (Marylebone), I was able to take my time wandering around the streets laden with gorgeous shops, each entirely individual and with not a chain in sight. When I finally got to Daunt, I made copious notes of books I would order later (so we didn’t have to cart them around with us), although I did purchase just one small paperback which fit into my handbag. We finished the day with dinner at the fine dining restaurant of New Zealander Peter Gordon – known for his fusion style food – where everything was absolutely exquisite. We stayed in a gorgeous boutique hotel in Notting Hill which I’d taken pains to select, and spent the next day wandering around a couple of modern art and design galleries. That evening we hot-footed it to Ronnie Scotts (the jazz club in Soho) where we enjoyed a meal and a live performance from the Kyle Eastwood band (yes, Clint’s boy). My daughter and her then boyfriend, now husband, joined us there, as that had been my daughter’s contribution to planning my perfect weekend.

Except it wasn’t entirely perfect…

When he went to withdraw cash to pay for taxis and stuff, my boyfriend discovered he didn’t have sufficient funds in his account to complete the withdrawal (nor funds to pay for anything else, if taken to its logical conclusion). While he complained about how unreasonable it was for banks to take multiple days to clear cheques (the ones my family had given him weeks ago to fund my birthday weekend but he’d not bothered to pay in till the day before), I decided to forgo the argument for now, and suggested he drew the money from our joint account which was always flush. Except that it wasn’t…

Long story short, I got to pay for my almost perfect birthday weekend and – some weeks later – gave my long-time boyfriend his marching orders too.

Just in case you’re concerned now, please be assured that I have my happy ending. I’m now living with Himself, who buys gifts which demonstrate that he listens to what I say and remembers, such that I’ve been known to shed happy tears more than once. He also makes sure I get to celebrate my way 🙂

Are you are birthday party person? Or do you prefer to spend your time quietly, with only who you want and doing what you want? In short, do you like fuss, or to fly under the radar?

© Debra Carey, 2023