Having been to the wedding of the year the day before: featuring an 'enviously entwined' bride and groom (to quote the eloquent best man's metaphor), and making for a truly happy occasion, I knew I'd made the right decision ditching day one of the Britmums fest in order to see the adorable couple wed. And drink the adorable couple's fizz - all day. And jump to the adorable couple's band choice - Riot, (Indy rock n roll) - all night long. Predictably it was a riot, and predictably, they all rocked - Killers style.
I suppose also predictably, only I could pack for a weekend and manage to leave my overnight bag behind. Yes complete with toiletries and pants, but also with the gorgeous business cards freshly designed for the #BritMumsLive event by the talented Helen Braid, phone charger, notepad, and well, you know, pretty much everything a blogger needs for the blogging event of the year. Which by the way, it clearly was.
Day two and late, yet early enough to hassle Simon Calder - the tell it like it is amusing travel man himself, as well as hear from Emma Raphael, author of the successful Bavarian Sojourn travel blog... which was all I really needed out of the 48 hours anyway. Okay, so I would have liked to have shown my kids book draft to a literary agent, but that's not yet finished, so it really didn't matter.
With the masterplan for who/what/where/when left behind, I sauntered in with only a hangover - and perhaps a somewhat better plan for following instinct and not a timetable. Before long, the hangover was also left behind, courtesy of a certain brand of fizzy pop. (Check out this for Coca Cola's hot new label)...And before long, I managed to bump into the women that mattered; the reason I wanted to attend in the first place. Those I've met literally and literarily, by reading the wonderfully creative minutiae of their lives, that inside-out knicker kind of stuff. You know, the stuff that sticks - so to speak.
I sat in the vibrant welly boot garden area (you had to be there), talking about the GraceFaith blog and girls, of our Life As It Is - of how my eldest Esme, helps me to grow daily, and how my youngest Fia, will no doubt forever keep me on my tippy toes: Recalling how I first met with a sympathetic blogging audience, over Fia's pneumonia tale. Oh and how they since know us at A+E as a consequence of her lively character and many mishaps.
Sort of funny then - sort of not - that I should crash down to earth with a bump the following day, when not only was the grown-up time over, and the wedding and blogging event of the year over, but alas the beautiful sunny day was also over... replaced with yet another afternoon at the hospital. For Sofia crashed down to earth with several bumps the following day too, cascading down the garden steps with gusto from top to bottom, taking with her a concrete bird bath; hence ending up at casualty again. Life As It Is continues. With a puffed up and beautifully coloured-in foot. And a delicate chin with just a hint of scratch. Remarkably, our 2YO is fine. Indeed appears to have cat genes. But is fine. I feel shit about it today, even if she is running about on said foot with no issue. Fortunately, for us as usual with these things, it is the what may have been that cripples.
Anyway... Thank you dear friends for a fantastic wedding! Thank you to Simon Calder for letting me waffle on in your ear. Thank you to the keynote speakers, three of whom really struck a chord with me - through miscarriage, and whom I thought were brilliantly brave to get up to read out their own inside-out knicker kind of stuff. And lastly, thank you to those I did manage to catch up with. It was so good meeting you! I was glad I could recharge (phone and feet) to make contact - yes, it turns out I needn't have missed my charger - this was #BritMumsLive and of course they had a plug-in station set up. Hell, they wouldn't want to miss out on any hashtags now would they?! Thank you Jen and Susanna for a brilliantly worthwhile six hours - even if I was sat in my inside-out knickers the whole time.
FOOTNOTE:
If you are wondering whether or not to get a ticket for 2015. You should. ;-)