A Birthday and a Family

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I celebrated my birthday yesterday and enjoyed a weekend of celebrations. My family completely surprised me by keeping totally quiet about the fact that our eldest was intending to return home for the weekend. Imagine my surprise when I wandered from the study to our living room on Friday evening to find him sitting there with his sister watching TV, having sneaked in through the back door! I confess that I felt quite choked with emotion and hadn't suspected a thing.

It meant that we shared some close family time, eating out on both Saturday night and Sunday lunchtime. We also visited the RHS garden at Harlow Carr on the outskirts of Harrogate together and where Spring bulbs are just beginning to come through to provide colourful displays. 

The number of times we are all together is diminishing as the years go by and will presumably be even less frequent when the youngest goes to university in the autumn. Occasions like my birthday weekend are therefore precious moments which will remain a treasured memory for the future.


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