Catherine's Birthday

What a contrast to the weather eleven years ago. Today it was cold and grey and back then when I was awoken from a call from the hospital in the early hours of the morning the skies were blue and the day warm and sunny. It is not the sort of day you forget and by seven thirty that morning I was holding a little girl in my arms not really knowing what to do with her. One thing was for sure was as I looked her I was so so happy.

Normally we would have had Lucy but with the move, financially that wasn't a possibility, the budget having been stretched already things are harder than they have ever been. So for me it has been rather a dull and empty day compared with the Tuesdays of the past.

Catherine made the most of her day. She wanted money this year and she has managed to get just enough to buy a android tablet, the one thing she wanted. She is so excited about getting it. All we need to do now is get it ordered for her and she will have internet access without having to use one of the old desktop computers. Catherine is getting so grown up now and it seems the time of toys is now long gone.

We were going to have a birthday dinner, but without Lucy it seemed better to wait and to save the a little money for later in the week. In the end I let Catherine choose the dinner and I brought her cake for pudding so at least she could have some candles. Hopefully as soon we have Lucy again I can bake a cake and we can have a late birthday dinner for Catherine with all her sisters together.

Lots of things have happened over those eleven years that Catherine has been with us and so much has changed. If you asked me as I held that little bundle of joy in my arms things would things be like they are now I would never have believed you. So much has happened that it would fill more than one book. It is strange what happens in life and their is no certainty in things turning out the way you want them. Like they the poem by Robert Burns says "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley.". You just have to look at my more recent life to see that and the situation with little Lucy who was meant to unite what is now a split family.