I am writing my first words at exactly 3.20 pm and I am hoping my memorable moment happens before my final six hundred words. Am I chancing this? I am allowing myself two hours of writing.
What do I expect to happen? In about ninety minutes there will be a new President of the United States. Today is the 20th January. Yes, that will be memorable, unlike any other, but it is not my moment.
I have been waiting for mine since the 10th June. The first sign that something significant might happen was an explosion on the Salisbury Plain. An extraordinary mushroom-like plume of white burst upwards through a darkening sky. It was early afternoon and the sun should have been shining. We were bound for a birthday celebration in a garden, just a few family members, socially distancing. The mysterious plume dissipated and the rain started to fall. So much for a smart champagne afternoon tea in an English garden. Because of Covid restrictions, we could not enter the house, so the party was transferred to an empty garage, and I experienced my first Garage Party. Yes, teenagers have such parties and there is even a genre of garage music, but there wasn’t a teenager present! That explosion, something unfamiliar to me, but an everyday event to Wiltshire folk, was explained as a military practice. I was quite sure it signified something special would happen that day. I was not wrong.
The little party was hosted by my granddaughter Holly for her mother. I have never been to such a celebration, rain pouring down, garage door wide open, six adults and one very young child not quite a year old, sitting in our coats and scarves, balanced on small camping chairs, drinking bubbly, blowing out candles and the birthday granny opening her presents. The birthday card was left for the last surprise. It read “WHAT DO YOU GIVE A GRANNY WHO HAS EVERYTHING?”. It was a giant scratch card. A coin was found for the frantic scratching. That explosion on the Plain was nothing compared to the bombshell revealed in the card…..ANOTHER GRANDCHILD for my birthday-celebrating daughter expected in January 2021! The baby’s big brother was not yet a year old and was just taking his first unsteady steps. I would be a great grandmother again.
And now here I am on Wednesday 20th January watching the inauguration of a American President and Vice President in a ceremony unlike any other, and my granddaughter is in the labour of childbirth. Two weeks ago, I did some online shopping and bought yet another scarf. It was a deliberate choice. I am now going to wear it until the baby is born. You may have guessed that the design of my scarf shows large storks, fourteen of them. I bought it from a company named One Hundred Stars. It is now dark and I am hoping that one of these storks can fly in darkness and deliver that great grandchild safely in Salisbury. It might even be a starry night to help with navigation.
My two hours span of writing has now expired. There will have to be a postscript.
Ps.
I could hardly go to bed wearing a scarf so I slept with it draped over the duvet. It is now early Thursday 21st January. There was a muffled fluttering of wings over Salisbury Hospital at one minute past one o’clock and another plume of white in the sky…..a flock of fourteen storks, or just one angel? Another baby boy safely born…..a memorable moment.
Pps.
The babe’s birthdate is 21.1.21. My granddaughter has just told me that 111 is said to be an Angel Number…… yes, a memorable moment!
Busy Bee, Scarf Face!
Series 2, Blog 29.