Half A Century!

That was what I was in London celebrating.
50 years of marriage between my Grandparents. Quite an achievement actually, a rather astounding one aswell. To think that these two people, have survived half a century of time together and come out on the other side.

And to celebrate they organised a big family party at the local golf club. It was lovely, having all the family in one place. Then it came to the speeches. And, after 3 pints of Fuller's London Pride, I was in a nice mood to just sit and listen, and reflect. And what I could not stop thinking, was that these two people; who I have embodied with the stereotype of moaning, grouchy old people who find being negative a way of life, I found that despite all of this, on saturday night, it all dissapeared, all I saw of them was two very happy people, madly in love. the stereotype was cast away, the shroud removed, and the true extent of who they are was made clear to me.
The power of love has kept them together for a good fifty years, through several heart attacks and a list of health problems, through two daughters and four grandchildren. I take my hat off to the two of them.


The four of us here at home, in scotland, only manage to see the other members of the family at best once a year. And whenever we go to the family parties I feel like a stranger. The nearest family member to us is a 3 or 4 hours car drive away, so for the past 11 years we've had minimum contact with the majority of our family. A fact which upsets me to a point. When I get to these events, I may be a stranger, but I love seeing everyone, and I love everyone being together and they take me in, talk to me, laugh with me, smile with me.
And I always come away wishing that the night hadn't have ended, that I could just stay one day longer with them.
I struggled to put names to faces at the party on saturday, and it's really got to me. I mean, in god knows how many years time, when I'm writing my wedding invites, will I know who to invite? I'll have hardly seen any of the people who I should be inviting, I hardly know them, they barely know me. It unsettles me these thoughts, because those who are meant to be closest and dearest to me, are strangers, I can smile and feel happy when I see them, but I don't know them, and to be quite frank, if I didn't go to the party on saturday, I'm sure they wouldn't have noticed that I was not there.
So this lack of family contact, this lack of familiarisation with my family, may have got me down, may have got me all negative as we travelled back on the plane. And I'm sure my mum was fed up of me talking to her about it. But it led me to a lovely little realisation. The realisation was, that up here, in scotland, well away from any family, I've made friends. Friends who I hold close and dear to me, and this realisation, it was the fact that yes I may be a stranger to my family, I may feel disconnected from them, but my friends are my family, they smile with me, laugh with me, and pose for pictures with me. And I know, that when it does come to writing my wedding invites, is that my friends names will come to mind readily. So I do have a family I've been in contact with, I see them every day and I've grown up with them, my friends are my family.

So in summary;
I take my hat off to my grandparents and their momentus achievement of 50 years in marriage.
I wish that I could have had a better relationship with the rest of my family aside from the close relatives.
I can take comfort in the fact that I have a lovely family, my friends.