Alice's b-day..? 17 11 08 (15) 25 1 30

A rather special day although exceptionally I forgot all about it until I got this reminder on f-b that it was my friend GG's b-d too. I met GG on the train travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh 4 years ago and we chatted non-stop the whole hour of the journey she a Zimbabwean living in Scotland where she was in the process of putting down roots: she was in a good place to do that because she had a serious phobia about snakes I recall, and complimented herself that there are few in her adopted country... I had our meeting a year adrift too thinking it was only maybe 3 years so there you go who is it that is himself getting seriously old?

                                       

But my Ma, A, today would have been 104 which is 8 multiples of 13 whilst later this month I shall be 78 which is only 6 multiples of 13: no prizes for guessing which day because that too is a multiple of the special number I share with my Ma. Suffice to say it's the same number as the difference in ages between me and my Mam as I used to call her when I was a child...

It is special then because she has lain in her grave these past 13 years so in a sense I sometimes muse that at my next b-d hurdle I shall be half way to my death day if I am going to share death years with my Ma..? 

And my Da, J? Well my poor Da when he didn't return from WW ll died at the age of 39 just half my age in years what I shall be on my next b-d. Da then wasn't so lucky except to say that in addition to the two sons, S and P, I was fortunate to father as he, he also fathered a daughter, M, and my Ma always used to chide me about how a man is not a man until he fathers a daughter, hahaha...

Never mind if I didn't get to father a daughter I lived long enough to get two beautiful grand-daughters, F and S, plus two fine daughters-in-law, Sa and Ja, and through them and our other son's two boys it's beginning to look like I might be lucky enough to meet one or more grand-daughters-in-law and that's not to say I maybe got to meet one of them this autumn already the lovely E for grandson Ak whom I dedicated a blog to some weeks ago already..? Plus through my grand-daughters a few more surrogate grand-daughters like the delightful R whom they brought to visit us this year on the occasion of their annual summer visit..?

Twin grand-daughter’s F and S had their birthdays already in October and their b-d’s added together give the day in the month their birth date 6 weeks later was first predicted to be: until it was discovered there were not one but two of them on the way..? One of these girls has a boy-friend J* , these past 4 years, who will also be celebrating his b-d later this month, and again no prizes for guessing which day in the month he will get to celebrate, but I do know for a fact it will be the day 78 years ago that Tina Turner got to be born..?

There you go Alice on your special day in the year: a few of the houses and memories you got to be associated with and shared during your and J senior's life together, plus later memories you got to share with A-E and me in our home these past 28 years.  I spoke to elder brother J junior 3 days ago and he is doing alright; and our sister, M, this morning, who said she would be visiting your grave later today, when she will be placing some flowers there: no big deal for A because she always used to say give me flowers while I am alive not when I’m dead! But nay bother, it will make my sister feel good about herself.

So there you go… nice to remember my Ma if it took a little prodding and nice to think about all the beautiful girls I got to meet through her including A-E who is preparing to leave the house just the noo, that is the person who took over from A and has been at my side these past 51 years. Next year we’ll have another reason to celebrate won’t we coz you all know what 52 is divisible by, hahaha. Have a good day everyone as I hope you too have fond memories about some of the people who were once in your lives…