Good morning Mrs Cornish :)

Ok, so I may have, in retrospect, been a tad greedy. As you will have read I have just had the most amazing wedding but the thing is that with the uncertainty over my future and my (our, D included) insistance of grabbing life with both hands we rushed our wedding forward. Vainly I still wanted to have hair! So knowing I had just six weeks reprieve from hospital checks the date I ended up picking was 12th November. This was because the 13th (a Sunday)was my 28th birthday and as I now truly understand that having possessions will not change your life (and especially not save it!!) I decided I didn't want presents but getting married would be the most amazing thing I could ever ask for!!

The trouble is the people around me are just too damn loving!! Not enough the wedding but D especially found himself organising the following day to be as special as any birthday I've had! Yesterday was looooonggg!! and even with the specified nap it was still very late when all the dancing was over and we arrived at our lovely hotel. The ancient George is interesting to negotiate with its beautiful winding staircases in a wedding dress - but as if I was going to change out of such a beautiful creation!! We opened a small selection of our gifts and ate chocolates in the bath where it took at least half an hour to un-pin my hair!!! They are probably still finding hair pins in that hotel!

The next morning - my birthday!! "Good Morning Mrs Cornish" are the most beautiful words I've ever heard! Breakfast is at 10... but not in the breakfast room, it's in the London room, hmm a big a room???

Sure enough we roll up, in what we've managed to pack clothes-wise, which for me means the same dancing shoes I had on last night (ouchy!) To be greeted to by close friends and family assembled around the long oak table to have birthday breakfast with us!! The next three hours are a non-stop hub-bub of laughter and general gaiety. Accounts of yesterday and nearly everyone has embarrassing tales of me or themselves long ago before we all came together!

Then, of course, are the presents. Emphasising I did not ask of anything it seems that everyone had gone to extra effort to make sure I have something special! I couldn't list them all but highlights include a homemade leather bound "book of my life' compiled by my best friend Jo. A mug with "A Very Special Auntie" from my 2yr old nephew which really emphasises the warm welcome my husband's family are giving me! An angel charm from an old friend like the one I used to were when we met and a voucher for a segway rally experience! ( Moments over possessions!!) Finally to top it all of my presents from D: a wall canvas of some of the happiest moments we have shared this year, a picture (as we are not at home) of the meditation space he has made me; complete with cushions, fleece blanket, old burner and scented candles. I can't wait to actually get back to see it!! Then a card... with a letter... a letter that invites me to Paris for the end of the week!! More on this but I am so excited - it was on our list of things to do and I've always wanted to go!! It also goes hand in hand with a gift from his family including a tour and a trip to the Moulin Rouge! I am bouncing in my seat!

I spend so much of the morning in happy tears you'd think I could have solved world droughts! We are only interrupted (at my request) by a respectful member of staff to remind of us of the two minutes of remembrance. Even this brings tears to my eyes; it always does to think of life given selflessly and in many ways pointlessly but this year it it doubly poignant not only because of my own life being needlessly taken but because each and everyone in that room that I love stands to hold that silence with me.

It is a beautiful morning to follow an incredible day and I couldn't have asked for more!! Even the little touches such as running through the hotel in my new fleecy slippers and being indulged by the staff as we far overrun our allotted time in the room; it's as if they know exactly how special this occasion is to us all.  The rest of the day is spent in a fatigued haze but a happy and blissful one, right now I have everything I want.

More soon!

xx