On Thursday, after a dinner conversation about my non-existent finances, the Boy asked if he could take me up to Birmingham to visit his folks for the weekend, to get me out of London. I happily agreed.
It was wonderful. I spent hours in the frankly enormous garden playing with his dog Suzy, spotting tadpoles with mini legs in the pond, running away from Suzy when she plunged into the water to cool off, admiring the Boy as he climbed up into his old treehouse, and swinging in a hammock (I'd never been in one before!).
On Saturday afternoon we snuck off to see Shrek Ever After, taking advantage of being able to buy two tickets, popcorn AND drink for less than the cost of two tickets in London. I loved it, especially the very short clip of the Gingerbread Man fighting Animal biscuits like a gladiator, but those gnashing skull heads on a chain were scary, and I'm 26! When the lights went up, the Boy pointed out we were the only people our age without children. I said the only proper way to respond to that situation is to look around wildly and cry "Where have the children gone?!" Nothing like deflecting attention...
Saturday evening was a curry with friends, the real reason the Boy was heading up to Brum (and why he was so unwilling to let me duck out of the trip). My food was sadly underwhelming, but I loved the walk home past the university lake in the dark.
Sunday morning was interesting, and I'm still trying to make sense of it. I went to church for the first time in years, and to an Anglican service for the first time ever (my folks are Catholic, my mum especially so). The Boy's mum, Janet, is a committed Christian and very active within her church. She had casually invited us at Saturday lunch to join her, and I decided to take her up on the offer out of curiosity. I wasn't prepared for how strongly I'd be affected by the service, which was a baptism, and found myself really close to tears at several points. I think the whole thing deserves its own post, once I've made a bit more sense of it.
After an amazing Sunday lunch, the Boy and I borrowed his parents' membership card for the Botanical Gardens, and spent the rest of the day lounging in the shade whilst listening to a jazz band play in the bandstand. Highlight was them launching into "I'm the King of the Swingers" from Jungle Book, I was so excited! We also saw an elderly couple who had their arms around each other, looking so sweet. When I spoke to them, it turned out they were celebrating their 53rd wedding anniversary that day! I'm in awe of relationships that last so long and remain so loving. I took some photos, and ran them through my new favourite toy, the Poladroid app:
After ice cream and picking up a dahlia for the garden, we hopped on the train (where I finally finished 100 Years of Solitude) and fell asleep pretty much straight away.
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