I did not want to be 50 – it seemed like pleated skirts, elastic waistbands and curly perms were just on the horizon. I booked a hotel to host a lunch party for friends and then cancelled it because I couldn’t face admitting I was 50. For the first time ever my husband never spoke to me for two days!
Eventually a friend said, “If you don’t celebrate this birthday you will always regret it”. So I took the bull by the horns and agreed to do it – and do it in style I did. I had my party at The Ritz in Piccadilly for 30 friends and they still talk about it to this day.
Approaching 60 wasn’t a problem – I was looking forward to it and celebrated with a few less friends this time, some of them were no longer with us. We had a great time at Fawsley Hall, Northamptonshire but one or two people said, “Do you remember where we were ten years ago?”.
So time moves on and another birthday with a zero on the end is only four days away. Like my 50th I do not want to ever acknowledge that I might be in the vulnerable age group susceptible to Covid -19. On the basis that I didn’t look anywhere near my age – that was until lockdown came upon us, closed all the hairdressers and allowed my white roots to show – I thought having another party would be a good idea. The venue was to be The Ivy. So – deposit paid, Save the Date invitations sent out last year, all my friends available great – full steam ahead. My husband was designing the table plan when on March 23rd the whole world ground to a halt.
A holiday to celebrate my husband’s birthday was cancelled, a long weekend was cancelled and then The Ivy cancelled last month. On Monday I shall cook a fabulous meal for two, drink a bottle of hideously expensive pink champagne and say sod it!! By the end of July my hair will be cut, my roots no longer on show – I’ll put on my Louboutin’s, look in the mirror and say, “You don’t look bad for an old girl” and I’ll go shopping!!
Jane Gower is a wedding and funeral celebrant http://www.my-wonderful-wedding.com/