A happy surprise.

I went to the wedding of a friend's son today and had the most amazing time. For the last 8 hours I've hardly been off my feet and now that I'm sitting my legs are aching. And talk? My goodness, even for me I talked a lot!

I wasn't invited to the wedding, I was there as part of a group of friends catering afternoon tea in between the ceremony at 2pm and dinner at 5.30pm. It was lovely to be able to provide this for my friends, and I think I'll have to do a separate post on how my Zinni did me proud in helping with catering.

I vaguely knew the bride's parents too. In fact I knew them before they were married and about the same age as today's bride and groom. Let me tell you, it's a shock to realize that you are so into middle age that your friends, who don't live in the same cities, have children old enough to go to uni, meet each other, fall in love and get married.

I knew there were some friends I haven't seen for a long time who would be at the wedding, and I had made arrangements to catch up with them tomorrow, some time ago. However a friend who I haven't seen in 15 years was there and I was really thrilled to spend time with her again. Meg was there to drive her daughter who had become a friend of the bride, and as she wasn't invited to the reception dinner, I was able to invite her back to my home for dinner and we talked non-stop for 4 hours!

One disadvantage of moving a lot - Rob and I lived in 6 different towns during our marriage - is that you move away from people you love dearly. Of course I always thought I'd keep in touch with them, but the reality of hectic family life and work and community commitmets, makes it impossible to stay in touch with everyone.

Today was a very happy day when an old friend came back into my life. A friend who I had shared the pain of my miscarriages and her years of infertility with. The stuff of anguish that slaps you in the face and introduces you to the world of life after the fairytale romance and wedding. The stuff that wisdom is born through.

Thanks to the wonders of the technological age, we will now be able to keep in touch via a popular social networking site. Sometimes I really, really appreciate living in this age.