Thank you for My "Birthday Book"!
My Darling Beloved Ones,
My 70th birthday has been and gone, but the remains of a month long” Festival of Sandra’s 70th!” continues. The lounge room is strewn with cards, gifts and wrapping which will have to be packed away today, as the “Festival of Christmas” is about to begin.
I have been loved and spoiled and honoured and cherished and nourished and adored. Literally. I am marinated in love and I feel incredibly blessed with the richness of my life, with the calibre of my family and friends, and the expanse of my community. I have been showered with flowers, dozens of cards, hundreds of messages and phone calls, champagne, visitors, babies and kids, gifts, more champagne, more visitors, more trips and more celebrations in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Shoalhaven Heads! I’ve been wined and dined many times, with friends, with the dogs, and just me and my Beloved Gerald.
Anticipating a busy day on The Day, I got up at 5.45 am and showered, put on some make up and some earrings - so I didn’t look like an old lady, rumpled and sleepy! Despite my preparation, I was still in my dressing gown when Joshua rang at 6.30 am, a long and lovely phone call. It was the first of dozens of calls from around Australia and the globe, there were times when the landline, Gerald and my phones were ringing at once! The celebrations continued until 10 pm, and I never managed to get out of my gown! It was the kind of acknowledgement usually reserved for funerals! How lucky I am to have had it all IN PERSON!
I’m feeling grateful and blessed in my life, in every way.
One of THE most amazing gifts I have EVER received (apart rom the birth of our son) is the “Birthday Book” which Diane McCann created for me, and which you contributed to. It’s taken me this long to acknowledge you all, because it’s taken me this long to read it. I got to page three of about sixty pages and was sobbing so hard, I could hardly see. I’ve had to pace myself, and read a couple of pages at a time, and build up my reserves to resume reading page after page of love and acknowledgement. I’ve done it with a box of tissues and cups of tea, with a glass of champagne and a gin and tonic with my Mom and Dad.
Thank you for what you added to this book, which added to the depth of my joy and happiness in such a profound way - and is such a blessing and a gift. Thank you for knowing me so well, for making me laugh, for being with me when I’ve cried, for celebrating happy times and dancing with me, for drinking champagne with me, for holding me to account, for challenging me and holding my hand and being my champion, for teaching me, trusting me, for loving Gerald and Joshua and my Mom and Dad, for allowing me to contribute to your life, for sharing your lives with me in such a profound way. You are My Tribe, you are Our Tribe, and I love you deeply, and I am so grateful for all we share.
Diane’s creation of this “Beautiful Birthday Book” is truly extraordinary, and a unique work of art. Please come and see this book some time. Its magic. Each page is a magnificent creative ‘masterpiece’, filled with the tiniest of ‘diamonds’, butterflies, dolphins, hearts, lace, elephants, angels and other treasures, which surround your beautiful messages of love to me - and represents HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of hours of loving, detailed, eye-crossing, dedicated work.
How anyone could create this is a mystery, but how DIANE created this – well, that is a miracle! Her year has been the most challenging of her life after the death of her/our Beloved Robert in May, she is the busiest human being I know, running programmes for men, women, couples and Goddesses, and she gives her time and her love without limitations, globally. And yet she found the time to make “The Birthday Book” for me. My darling Diane, I shall treasure this book for the rest of my life, and perhaps after my death, someone I love will treasure it too. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your love and friendship. I love you Diane.
Thank all of you for this gorgeous, unique, unforgettable “Birthday Book”. I love you all so very much, and am very, very grateful, and very, very blessed.
Love and hugs
Sandra x