Sometimes life gets in the way of blogs

know I promised a sequel to the 'sweet sixteen' drama, but truth to tell, it didn't actually get much more dramatic than that. In the run-up to the day of the party, it became clear that no preparations were going to be made if I didn't make them. It's fair to mention, however, that the party fell at the end of the high school exam week and DD1 was studying.

I was pleased with the decorations and the display board I created for her. I left her only to find a way to play music. That turned out to be the one thing that was really rather inadequate. We have a 19-year old Pioneer midi system with record deck, double cassette deck and multi-disc CD player. It was purchased when mini-systems started to become popular, but I wasn't convinced I wanted to live without a record deck, and I had always wanted a Pioneer, so I was happy with my purchase. The problem now is that the system is incompatible with iPods. Whereas I went to parties armed with a pile of my best singles (45s) or a couple of cassettes back in the 70s, these kids all showed up with their iPods, and all we had to play them on was an iHome clock/radio. Hmm... Anyway, it didn't seem to matter because when they all got here, they stood talking for a solid two hours instead of dancing.

So, the guest of honor (or hostess) was absent from most of the preparations and decorations and absented herself from a lot of the cleaning up afterwards, but it was no more or less than I expected and overall it was fine. The party itself was very successful in no small part due to the very excellent entertainment supplied by Dan Candell, the hypnotist and mind-reader extraordinaire. He absolutely had them all in the palm of his hand and had to be seen to be believed. He says he was only twelve when he first became a hypnotist and now at the ripe old age of 22 he's a professional entertainer. I invited two neighbor-friends to come and watch the show - their own kids had told them all about Dan, and they were as enthralled as the rest of us. I'm glad we allowed DD1 the party she wanted. It was fun.

A week later it was DD2's thirteenth birthday, and of course in some cultures that is also a big milestone birthday. We tried to make it fun and special, but without the party. We went to see "Tooth Fairy" - not a great movie, but I enjoyed seeing Julie Andrews, Stephen Merchant and Billy Crystal. Later this month I'm taking her to see Cirque Dreams at the Hanover.

In addition to the birthdays, it was a strange and difficult week at the church. I am a church secretary and I share the job, in part, with DD1 who gets paid handsomely for her work. The incumbent pastor of almost 34 years retired on the 31st January so the last week was spent trying to tie up loose ends and preparing for his last Sunday. The Sunday service was emotional, and it was followed by a reception in the hall. The rules for retiring and departing pastors is that they must sever all connections to the parish in which they have served, although they are allowed to retain friendships. However they must stay completely out of church affairs and may not even visit without permission from the replacement pastor. That's really tough.

Since Sunday, I've had a very strange week getting used to things being different. Old Pastor was fun to be around and we laughed and talked about Apple products more often than not. His door was always open and often we would call out to each other from one office to the other. I'd hear him laugh at something on his computer and would have to find out what it was, and he would do the same. I really enjoyed working with him and I find it so difficult to adapt to a new person in his office. New Pastor is an "intentional interim" so he will only be with us for a few months and I daresay I'll get used to him. But now the office door is closed and I have to knock. I am tired with all the explanations and orientation and to cap it all I've had DS at home sick for three days, DD1 for two days and DD2 refusing to go to school and creating problems on Tuesday.

All in all it's been a busy and life-changing few weeks. Who knows what the next drama will be!