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My Diaryland
2:57 p.m. - 2024-03-26 We mostly lounged around her place, both fussing over each other with lots of cuddling up on the sofa, lots of napping together and a fair amount of incidental chat about various things. We talked about going on holiday together. She doesn't like to fly or go on boats which sort of narrows things down a little destination wise, but she says it might be ok to try as we would be travelling together. We were both feeling better by Monday and decided to go up to our favourite cafe on the High Street for a light lunch and then a walk around town and back home via the common green and the riverside. Something unexpected happened in the cafe. We had just been served hot drinks when I heard a voice behind me say my name and ask "Is that you?" When I looked up, there was this tall very attractive young woman standing in front of me and I recognised her instantly. I stood up and we both said at the same time "What are you doing here?" and laughed at the double take. We hugged. It was R, the daughter of one of my former loves from back in the day. I introduced her to Marion who was looking rather confused and surprised. R smiled and shook hands with Marion who then asked her how we knew each other. R told her how we first met when I was dating her mother many years ago. R was sixteen at the time and she's now almost thirty six, living down in Gala with her partner, and she is a fully trained veterinary specialist. She's turned out to be a fine young woman, a tall six footer and bears more than a passing resemblance to her mother who was also a very handsome woman. R then told Marion a few stories about me and I became only a listener in the conversation as they chattered away, almost as if I wasn’t actually there. She told Marion how I used to tie her school shoe laces together in a triple knot as a prank which made her late for school on many occasions. She then told Marion where we first met, it was during summer holidays on the Isle Of Mull where her mother had hired a farm cottage and had invited me to stay a week with them including R's brother. I remember those times well. The day I travelled to the island was the same day of the infamous London bombings. I remember being up on the observation deck of the Calmac ferry Isle of Mull when I got a call from my mermaid friend Amanda to tell me about the bombings. Her partner was working in London that day but was thankfully ok. The holiday itself with my then girlfriend and her two kids was great fun and I got on well with both R and her brother. R was also good friends with my daughter for a while as I used to take my kids to stay weekends at my girlfriend's place. Those were exciting times, the two of us and the four kids got on really well together. The last time I saw R before yesterday was briefly when I'd got back together with her mum over winter 2010/2011 for a while. She'd come home from Dundee University unexpectedly over the Christmas holidays after having boy trouble (she'd been dumped) and mum was the best option at the time. The three of us spent a lovely winter week together where we were snowed in for a few days. R told Marion about how when she was sixteen, I gave her a birthday present that she still has to this day hanging on her wall. It was a framed A4 picture of the house she lived in at the time with an overlay of text and a poem I'd written for her called "Your Mother Is Your Best Friend".. I was blushing like a mad thing by this point and Marion was looking at me as if she didn't know me. R said she didn't appreciate the poem at the time and thought it a bit cheesy. It was only when she left home on her own to go to University and live her life as a young adult that she truly understood the meaning of my poem, and the value of being best friends with her mum. Up until that point, she was like any other teenager, rebelling against authority and doing everything her mother told her not to do. R never had much of a relationship with her father and she told Marion that having me around was always fun and helped her grow up a lot quicker. I asked R if she would like to join us but she was with a colleague and they were due to attend a veterinary seminar soon, so we hugged our goodbyes. Marion was very subdued for the rest of lunch and the only thing she said to me was that I seemed to have made a lasting impression on R, especially as it had been over fifteen years since we saw each other. So you are also a poet? she said. She would like to read the poem I wrote for R, if I still have it. I said I'd try to find the poem but it's possible it was lost many years ago in a hard drive failure or similar. Marion was in a reflective mood for the rest of yesterday. She told me that having me around had a positive effect on Lilly and most importantly her own relationship with her daughter. Things between them were quite strained before I happened along. Now they are more like best friends and everything is more open between them. Lilly also told her that she doesn't mind having me around. She also said that she's noticed of late that I never bring any problems to her when I visit. Marion said I never seem to have any moans or groans about life but always listen to hers. Who do I go to when I have something I need to talk about or air in the open? Meantime, I have a long lost poem to find...
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