Networking and dancing – what’s not to like?
Imagine the scene. Three hours after midnight, unceremonious swearing, blood all over the cream carpet and emergency first aid. “Happy birthday love,” exclaimed my husband as I pulled the covers back over my head. Not how I expected to celebrate my seventy years and definitely not at four in the morning! That said and with the stabbing pain subsiding a little, I began to see the funny side of my bathroom visit. I get that most people would switch on the landing light and then the bathroom light so that they could actually see where the doorframe met the floor. But then I’m not “most people.”
Other than a very sore toe I’m pleased to share that seventy has been kind to me so far. The house has been filled with glorious botanical displays, hilarious cards and outpourings of friendship and love. I have such an amazing group of friends and family members, as well as a fabulous network of colleagues. We all stay in touch as best we can, although some how this birthday found me welling up with every message. Perhaps the huge amount of Cava I’d drank the previous day had something to do with it?
I’ve chosen to share this story on Linked In because many of my friends are people I’ve met through my work. And also, because I’m still working (must remind the PM and the Chancellor) and forging new relationships. I simply can’t imagine my life any other way. I love to network and to share ideas and knowledge. What’s the point of keeping insight to myself when it could help someone else? I’ve never been one to expect others to always learn the hard way.
If you’ve read my blog previously you’ll recognise that I’m not a January “mood board” person or a New Year’s resolution kind of girl, although I respect others who are. I prefer to create a journal of ambition with some longer-term expectations of myself. I’m happy to be reminded that one of those ambitions a couple of years ago was to dance on the table on my seventieth birthday. The expectation being two new knees and a willing dance partner.
There have been a few difficulties since then. A visit to an orthopedic consultant this summer (after losing six stones) suggested that I take medication and lose five more. Sufficient to say this did not have the desired effect. And as Rag ‘n’ Bone sings, “I’m only human after all.” Rebellious Heather took over!
During my growing up and impressionable years, I was and still am friends with a neighbour of similar age (I lived at no. 24 and Jan lived at no. 56). Jan’s mum was a court dressmaker and made us lots of “on trend” miniskirts mostly out of material but others were crochet. Jan and I had matching crochet skirts, and we’d put them through their dancing paces to The Foundations, “Build Me Up Buttercup” in 1968.
I loved that song aged 14, and I was thrilled when it was featured as part of the soundtrack to the film, “There’s Something About Mary,” 30 years later. Hardly surprising then that on the 20th October 2024, I couldn’t resist the music.
Why do you build me up (build me up)
Buttercup, baby
Just to let me down? (Let me down)
And mess me around
And then, worst of all (worst of all)
You never call, baby
When you say you will (say you will)
But I love you still
Without a crochet skirt or sturdy enough table in sight (and despite my painful knees) Jan and I were up again dancing to The Foundations on the day before my birthday along with a few other sixties music fans! Sadly, there’s video evidence to prove it and of course had I not been dancing, I’d have not been hobbling around the landing in the early hours of my birthday.
My ambition remains although I’m recalculating my timeline in the certain knowledge that these past few weeks have been simply awesome. I’ve learned that I have remarkable friendships and family relationships. And that I’m happiest when I’m supporting others to achieve astonishing things. Let’s see what the next decade brings. Now, where did I leave that new red lipstick?
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