On This Day Last Year: GUEST POST: A Thoroughly Cheesy Anniversary

Friday, 9 April 2010

GUEST POST: A Thoroughly Cheesy Anniversary

By Robbie Solomons

Last Sunday afternoon I went to Sopwell House for afternoon tea, to celebrate my first wedding anniversary.

We had sandwiches, assorted mini-gateaux, scones with jam and lashings of clotted cream… and tea, of course. It was a lovely couple of hours spent recalling the wonderful celebrations in that delightful corner of Hertfordshire on that day 1 year ago. I indulged myself, and all in the company of my favourite two people in the whole wide world.

It goes without saying that one of these people was my darling wife, Alice, (celebrating my 1^st wedding anniversary really wouldn’t have been the same without her). Whilst I watched her spread an extraordinarily large amount of clotted cream onto half a scone and proceed to get some of it in her mouth, and most of it spread liberally around her face, I couldn’t help but marvel at just how lucky I had been to find, fall for and marry this beautiful human-being before me. I don’t believe in soul-mates, I don’t believe in love at first sight, but I do believe that I couldn’t have met a person who makes me any happier than she does… cheesy, but true.

Talking of cheese, that brings me on nicely to the other person there with us that fine day. Burped up breast-milk, when left to cultivate in flabby neck folds, smells remarkably cheese-like… who knew? The neck folds (and cheese smell) belong to my wonderful daughter, Phoebe, who drew her first sweet breath on the afternoon of the 1^st March this year, and has been belching milky screams ever since. She is beautiful and already has many talents, including:

The aforementioned cultivation of ‘neck-cheese’
The impressively high production of sticky/crusty green ‘eye gold’
Projectile pooing (I now approach her from side on when changing her nappy)
Various other assorted smells and discharges

Seriously though folks, she’s lovely and amazing and beautiful and sweet and with every day that passes I find myself falling more and more head-over-heels-life-will-never-be-quite-the-same-even-prefer-her-to-football(-but-only-just) in love with her.

Alice has been taking care of her during the days and through the night and I am in awe of how amazingly natural she is at the whole ‘mummy’ thing.

As I sat there, watching the two of them in the warm glow of the mellow early-spring sun, I knew I was blessed and happy. Never had face food looked so wonderful, nor neck cheese ever smelt so gorgeous.

I feel so lucky to have them both and if my 2^nd wedding anniversary is anywhere near as good as my 1^st, then I can’t wait.

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ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: AN INTRODUCTION

Sometimes it's hard to believe how much life can change in such a short time. For me, the realisation hit me when I left my job as a showbiz editor with Sky to have a baby. For my sister, it was leaving her job organising charity projects in India to study her third degree in law. For my mother it was losing her mother. For one of my oldest friends it was quitting her desk job and booking a one way ticket to Australia. For one of my best friends it was losing her husband, her father and almost her baby in quick succession. For a mate's girlfriend from Cornwall it was applying for a job in London, getting it and then realising it was based in London, Ontario, not the UK's capital city. For one it was about training for a marathon in New Zealand. For another it was working out how to deal with the suicide bombers in her hometown of Karachi, Pakistan. For one it was speed dating. For another it was dumping a boyfriend. For one it was battling cancer. For another it was trying to lose weight.
In equal measure all of these people who I consider myself lucky to know have short stories, that have happened within the space of a year. I am constantly touched, inspired, made to laugh, made to cry and humbled by their experiences. And now I want to share them.