When a Diamond is a Girl's Best Friend

A couple of days before we set off on holiday we celebrated my mum's 60th birthday. My dad and I had planned a surprise dinner party at a posh restaurant, involving close family and friends. The evening was a success - my mum had been suspicious that something would be happening, but she did not expect to have a group of people gathered to celebrate with her - my brother and his girlfriend had managed to come down from university, my dad's sister and his partner had come down from Birmingham, and one of my mum's sisters had secretly come to stay with my husband and I, so my mum had no idea that any of them were down in Sussex for the occasion until she walked through the door of the restaurant to all our "Happy Birthday!" cheers.

I had opted for a diamond theme, as like the Queen celebrated 60 years of her reign this year in Diamond Jubilee, so this was my mum's diamond year. She had never made much fuss about her previous big birthdays, doing nothing special for her 40th or 50th like many people do, so it was only right that we made sure that this birthday would be marked appropriately.

But I didn't only choose diamonds because it was her 60th, but because she is a diamond herself. A diamond that we wanted the opportunity to surprise, to show how much we love her by being there, by surprising her, and by treating her. My mum loves gifts - she's always been a great gift-giver herself, always finding special little things for the people she cares about - but she also loves being surrounded by those dearest to her, and we knew that this dinner party would be the best way to do this.

My present to my mum, with valuable contributions from others, was a memory book - tracing her life from birth through to this special birthday - filled with photos, loving notes, and happy and silly memories. It was a pleasure to do. I've always loved hearing my parents talk about their life before I was born - their childhoods, their wilder days, their best friends, their work, their meeting each other and their getting married, so I loved going through that material for my mum. And when I got to the pretty pink page for the year 1984, the page for my entry into their world, their first baby, I was able to admire once again the cute pictures, think back to the fond tales my mum has told me of my birth, my learning to crawl and then walk, my first word, my first snow, and my two-year-old's joy at the arrival of my brother in 1986.

Mum giving me a doll on my first birthday

And then of course, come my own memories. My mum was the first person I ever set eyes on - apparently I didn't even look at the midwife, it was my mum who I looked at first. She has been an unswerving pillar of strength for me throughout my life. She is a great mum, and I thank God for her. We do not always get on, and she frequently annoys me in a way that only a mother can, but I would not be the same without her. She has always cared for me, always looks out for me, and still remains the one person I want around whenever I am sick. She still likes to mother me, even though I am more than two years married and have lived away from her since university. She's very good at coming round and tidying bits and pieces up, maybe taking away a bag of laundry, and fussing over things. I always feel guilty, but at the same time I like that she helps me out, because I'm pretty useless at this housewife thing, and I think that she still likes to be my mum like that.

I love to meet her for tea and cake, to go and see a girly film together, to go clothes shopping with her, but mostly to talk to her about anything and everything. Despite many ups and downs, I've always been able to share things with her.

She's always been a sparkling diamond in my life. A best friend unlike any other of my best friends.

She's the kind of person who has low self-esteem, who doesn't think very much of herself. But from the input of friends and family to both her memory book and the dinner party it is clear that she has been a diamond as a sister and friend too. My dad, brothers, and I will testify that as a wife and mother she has made a positive impact on all of our lives. Whilst we're family and we will always gripe and disagree with one another, we are who we are together and because of our pasts with each other, and this special birthday was the perfect way to celebrate my mum's irreplaceable role in our lives.

A Change is as Good as a Rest

Yesterday evening my husband and I arrived home from a short holiday in Paris and Amsterdam. We've been feeling the need for a holiday for some time, what with my husband completing his MSc, my change in job, and the other hectic happenings of twenty-somethings who struggle to say "no" to stuff!

Last Monday morning we set off with full rucksacks to the station where we took a train to Newhaven. There we hopped on the ferry to Dieppe where we took a train to Paris, changing briefly at Rouen. We arrived in the evening, and after a slightly overwhelming walk through busy streets in the pouring rain from St Lazare Station we eventually found the side street that housed our hotel.

We stayed in Paris for two nights, and on Wednesday morning we set off with our rucksacks again to hang out at Montmartre until it was time to get our train from the Gare du Nord to Amsterdam. The fast train took us speeding through French and Belgian countryside and on into Holland in just under three hours, and worked out cheaper for us both than peak tickets from our hometown to London (which takes just over an hour)! We then stayed in Amsterdam for three nights, before flying home yesterday evening.

So, we did lots of exploring, lots of walking, lots of eating, and lots of attempting to dodge the autumnal rain. We are both feeling the need to rest again, but in truth a change from the norm has definitely been what we needed. We haven't had to wake up early each day. We haven't had to travel to work and put up with the daily stresses. We haven't had to cook dinner for six days. We have had the opportunity to sit back and watch the world go by. We've been able to enjoy being somewhere different, to wander around with little pressure for time, and no demand for our attention or domestic responsibilities to concern us.

It's been great to have a rest of sorts, and now we both feel refreshed (if full of cold, sadly), and ready to go again. And I hope to write a little more about our adventures in the next couple of weeks.