After two weeks of close to insane activity, temperatures creeping up as summer hits Sheffield with a vengeance, and rising stress levels as the day approached, yesterday was the Big Day. This involved dragging myself away early from a two-day staff meeting in order to throw some smarter clothes on and hurtle around Sheffield gathering children in time to go to a lunchtime reception at the University. It was a sweltering afternoon in the rising heat wearing full academicals as we drank pimms and cocktails in the Union garden before finally finding a measure of cool and quiet in the Octagon for my graduation. Youngest Son, Only Daughter and Lover all came along to watch and the rest of the brood and Best Friend followed proceedings on a big screen in the Union.
After a couple of pictures for posterity, we all came back to my office for a reception in the garden with other friends and colleagues. There was a certain amount of perplexity as people took on board the fact that among the guests were my first ex-husband's wife, my second ex-husband, my ex-boyfriend and my "friend" (he prefers this title), all being perfectly civil to one another and all treating me with affection. The kids were all fantastic, at their most sociable and poised, and my most respected colleagues were all there as well.
After the reception proper was over, several of us wandered back up to my house, where the merrymaking continued into the evening. It was a relaxed, funny, friendly kind of affair, and a memorable end to that chapter of my life.
Now I have some holiday booked and I plan to catch up on sleep, get the backlog of private contract work completed and do some housework and some serious mothering. I may even have a little time away, as well.
Now, where do we go from here, I wonder?
No comments:
Post a Comment