Fabulous Friday

Happy Fabulous Friday all. What makes today fabulous? – cupcakes, friends and strength.

Cupcakes – Yesterday I went to the shops and walked past a café called the Shingle Inn. It’s a café chain famous for their cupcakes. I saw a chocolate cupcake with cream in it and decided to get one for my husband given he’s been such a good boy lately. I then saw a passionfruit one and decided to get it for myself. I figured I’d been pretty good lately too!

I treated myself to a coffee and sat at my desk with my cupcake. It was the best 15 minutes of my day! I just soaked in this small little treat and revelled in the simple joys of life. And I wondered why I didn’t do these things more often? But, I guess the fact that I don’t do them often is what makes it all the more special when I do!

Friends – I’ve been blessed with lots of friend love this week and it’s come at a time when I needed it most. A friend in Denmark, who I met when living in Rome, emailed me to say she’d been there for a few days and had visited some of our old haunts. It was so lovely to hear from her and reminisce about that year we spent together, 17 years ago. But, the interesting thing is we’ve bonded more lately as she told me about her own miscarriage which I never knew about it. So while I’m always sad to hear my friends have gone through the same pain, I appreciate having someone else in the world who understands what I’m going through right now.

But, the best thing about her email was her telling me how much she missed me and wanted to see me. I don’t know about you, but it’s pretty rare for me to hear such sentiments from people.  I felt truly blessed to have someone in my life who thought about me and loved me enough to realise they miss me. I was very touched to hear it and now we’re thinking we should meet up somewhere halfway. I’m thinking New York! 

I also got another message from a friend wanting to catch up for a coffee. Again, it’s a friend I haven’t seen in over a year and is someone else who knows what I’m going through. I so appreciate people reaching out to me like that. And I must say, I do feel much more comfortable spending time with people who do know, rather than people who don’t, because I don’t have to worry they will say something hurtful or annoying. People who haven’t experienced it just don’t know so when I’m feeling fragile, I like spending time with people who get me.

And today, I got a message from my friend who is due to have her baby the same time I was. I had sent her a message wishing her luck for the delivery. She said she had kept her space because she thought I wouldn’t want to hear from her. It’s one of those tricky situations where you feel happiness but also pain so that produces a lot of conflict and I find that hard to deal with. But what I really appreciated was her saying “…next time you feel a dose of courage or love, it might just be coming from me xx.” I was really touched by that. Right now, I’ll take all the courage and love I can get so it spurs me on to know people are sending it to me!

Strength – Luckily everyone is sending me courage because God knows I’ve needed it in spades this week. On Tuesday, I got an email informing me one of my colleagues had her baby. I was able to look at it without too much of a reaction and marvelled at the fact she was only in labour for 1.5 hours! Today, I got another email informing me another colleague also had her baby. It was a bit tougher not to react because today is the day I should have been starting maternity leave.

I started today with a blood test. As I sat there with my arm extended, I thought this was not how today was supposed to go. I wonder if somewhere, in an alternate universe, I am starting maternity leave today. I hope that Fiona has  a great day and enjoys her party. The Fiona in this universe is summing up her strength to get through the day.

But, it’s Friday and I’ve survived the week so far. There have been numerous challenges and I’m proud of myself that I’ve rose to the occasion each time. It gives me hope that I’ll continue to have the strength to overcome the challenges the next few weeks will send me. But, I’m taking one day at a time so I don’t over extend myself. So today, I’m going to treat myself to lunch and a bottle of wine on the way home. Such strength needs to be celebrated and rewarded!

Fabulous Friday to you all! Don’t forget to smile – happy looks good on you!