Yay! 55 today!

I have had the best birthday ever today. Simple, but absolutely lovely.
My two gorgeous sons escorted me to Southwold today. A quaint seaside resort in Suffolk where my ex and I used to take the boys for their summer holidays when they were little and if you have never been there, please try it.
Southwold is a quintessential British seaside town, which hasn't changed in years apart from the shops getting posher!
It was a trip down memory lane for us, as I haven't been for about ten years and for Oliver ,a lot more. Dwight has been back a few times recently.
Listening to them laughing about clambering over this or playing on that green, really put a huge smile on my face, as it was all good memories that they had and they couldn't even remember the cold and wet when we stayed in the 'Light keepers cottage' one year.
While sitting on the pier drinking tea and them eating cake, we watched two lads come out of the amusement arcade and we could all see the resemblance of them in the boys.
Priceless.

We had a walk around Southwold town centre, pointing out different memories and giggling about how Dwight used to drag a bucket of stones everyday to the very patient lady in the amber shop, hoping that one of those stones would be precious amber. He did find a piece of carnelian in the end, which I still carry around with me to this very day!
We then bypassed the posh restaurants and instead ate fish and chips on the green overlooking the sea, licking the vinegar off our fingers and drinking Shandy Bass straight from a tin.
The last time we drank shandy bass, was when I brought the wrong gas cylinder when we tried camping instead of staying in a house there and we had to have shandy and crisps for breakfast. Needless to say that was the last time we ever went camping!

Dwight and I had a paddle together in the sea, while Oliver took photos of us. Good to know that I was carrying my very own deep sea diving equipment in case I fell in. Well I guess that's what some people were thinking, by the quizzical looks on their faces as I walked gingerly over the stones to the waters edge wearing my oxygen unit strapped to my back.
Oliver bless him, caught his dad's Adnams Ale bottles on the edge of a step just as we got back to the car and the bottoms on both bottles smashed off, so we drove home smelling like we had been to the Vfestival rather than a sedate seaside town!

Even after my six dances last night with my oxygen unit firmly strapped over my party dress to my back like a mountaineer who had wandered off the beaten track and had stopped for a quick boogie instead, I still manged to impress myself with my walking, although I was holding on to my wheelchair as if my life depended on it.
So where it used to be them falling asleep in the back of the car o the way home, it was me this time. Although I don't think the music playing was quite the same as twenty years ago... I was subjected to rappers etc instead of the gentle strains of Abba and the likes.

A fab day, thank you so much boys.
And thank you for all the lovely cards, presents and messages from everyone, on face book and through the post.
Hang on to your seats, because this could be an exciting year, but bound to be a bumpy ride!

Lots of love Debbie x (aged 55!)