It’s been over a week since I got back from America, and it all feels oh-so-far-away. Despite being a pretty private person, I’m often fairly open on here, which is probably partly because I feel like nobody reads it, so I don’t have any intended listener in mind. As a result, sometimes it’s a good idea to withdraw for a bit to avoid spilling out more truths to the world than might be intended – hence why this update relates to things that happened over a week ago.
Explanations over, below is my father. (I don’t really use that word with any seriousness. Me and my sister started saying it as a bit of a joke, and as with many other things it just stuck. I never was a fan of the usual words that describe people close to you, so it’s easier to mock it than make yourself feel vulnerable).
I think he was in the middle of telling me to make sure I got a good picture of the occasion, which was to mark his 50th birthday.
This is as good as it gets.
It was the Glasgow-based immediate family members that congregated to head to one of our usual haunts for such things: a Greek place on George Square.
It was a nice way to come home.
Going out for some sort of dinner for birthdays or whatever else has been something that we’ve always done as a family unit since we were wee. There’s something communal about eating and talking together, and has become an important ritual… along with drinking a fair amount.
This is my dad doing his bit as a preacher man and turning water into wine.
The older we’ve got, the more wine gets consumed, especially since the question of whether or not to order that last bottle of red isn’t just confined to one of my parents drinking it now… I’ll gladly help out whenever called upon.
A few ouzos later and things started to get a bit odd. My granda always manages to keep quiet all night and then do something outrageous silently in the corner. This time it was imitating a rapper. Not too bad in the grand scheme of things.
Got a lot going on just now. Not even had time to get post-travel blues.