My Birthday

Happy and laughing on my birthday

Today was my birthday!  I was definitely feeling the love today, as I barely got any work done, I was so busy fielding calls from people.  My morning began with a call from the Tall South African, my parents called, and I just kept struggling to get work done whilst I fielded more e-mails and well-wishes from people around the globe.  I even heard from a guy I'd been involved with back in Boston, Trail Guy, who had remembered my birthday even without the aid of Facebook.  I swear, there is nothing quite like your birthday to make you feel loved.

The best part of the day of course, was my planned celebration in the evening.  It just happened that my birthday was falling on the June "Younger Member's Last Wednesday of the Month" drinks at the club, and the weather had cleared into beautiful sunshine so we could have drinks out on the terrace.

I'd decided to wear ridiculous peep-toe heels that are impossible to walk in on the Tube, so I ran into a girlfriend in the Ladies Powder Room whilst I changed my shoes, and then we headed up into the sunshine for drinks.

Many people knew it was my birthday and so bought me glasses of champagne, but the best was undoubtedly the Wild Welshman, who I had not managed to catch up with in ages.  Yet, he took great pains to really spend some time chatting with me and catching up on all that was new, and we talked quite a bit about his recent house purchase in Crystal Palace (an area in the north of London).  It was really good to talk to him, and I was reminded of how much we get along on a most fundamental level. He does make me smile so much.

But not nearly as much as Joel, who was the last of all my friends to arrive, but unquestionably gave me the biggest thrill.  I'd panicked when I saw his work number pop up on my phone earlier in the day, fearing that he was calling to cancel, but he was just calling to confirm the details of our dinner plans for the evening.

I had fun talking to many other people up on the terrace, and got quite the surprise when the boys turned out to have bought me flowers for my birthday, although they claimed it was as much a thank-you for organising everything with the Magdalene and Balliol balls this past week as anything else.  Yet before it was too late, I rounded up the troops and got us all down to dinner.  Except once we were there, I realised we'd somehow lost my friend Jess in the transit, and so I had to run back up to the terrace to go find her!

Fuzzy group shot, with Joel not looking at the camera, on purpose of course

The dinner was good fun, where I mostly chatted to Joel, I was so happy to see him.  Although every time he left the table (he really does have the world's smallest bladder) everyone turned to pounce on me asking, "Who is this awesome guy, where have you been hiding him, and why aren't you dating him?"

I was thrilled that they seemed to like Joel as much as I do, but of course the question of why I'm not dating any one of my many male friends is always an awkward one.  In this case of course it is because Joel has gotten involved with yet another girl within hours of breaking up with the last one.  And apparently just like the previous ones, she is insisting on meeting me, nervous and curious like all the others about this girl who Joel must talk about constantly, who is a huge presence in his life.  I teased him about why she even knew I was a girl, but he surprised me by telling me that he has a picture of me in his phone that pops up every time he calls me.  Two days later he even called me and left me a voicemail message saying he'd called just to see much picture as much as anything else.  It's little wonder this deep attachment to another girl has many girls nervous.

Yet for as much as Joel loves me more than any other girl, he's never given me any indication that he's interested in me *that* way, and so we continue on, still near and dear to each other after a decade.  And I continue to be single.

After dinner, we retired to the bar where Joel bought me a whiskey, knowing me well like he does.  We had a few drinks and lingered past midnight, when I could tell that my friend Jess was getting extremely nervous about how late it was getting and making the last Tube.  So although I could have happily stayed for much longer, I bid everyone goodnight, and then struggled to extract myself when I ran into a group of guys I know in the bar from the club committee.  One of them turned out to be a guy I've e-mailed with a lot but never met in person, and upon seeing me in the flesh for the first time, was extremely taken with me.  He kept trying to persuade me to stay, being so keenly interested that the girls started teasing me about it mercilessly as soon as we left the bar.  Indeed, the next morning I woke up to an e-mail from the chap asking me out to dinner!  {Sigh!}  It was comical however, as the man really was infatuated!

Yet with time running late, we ran for the Tube, although easily making the last train despite my friend's worries.  And I got home to find a slightly drunken, rambling e-mail from Joel saying at the end, "You're extremely important to me and I think it's wonderful we've been chums for a decade! (Thnnx 2 u)"

It was just a wonderful day full of love from friends, especially from those I love most.  I am a lucky girl to be so loved and adored by so many, and it was a great day to be reminded of it.