My amazing wife is 50 today

It’s my amazing wife’s 50th birthday today. She doesn’t read this blog so it’s all okay! I just dropped my youngest daughter off to get the ferry to school and she was remarking on the fact that she now has two parents who are 50 years old. Of course it sounds old when you are 16 like she is, but I was telling her that once you hit a ripe older age like this, you realise that actually it ain’t so bad at all if you are lucky with your health and so on. The odd dodgy knee aside, I am an incredibly lucky man to be with such an incredible girl for so long. Growing old disgracefully………….

My wife and I have been together since we were 19 years old - she was 25 when we got married and I was 26 - but way back then do you really imagine that one day you might become 50 year olds together? I turned 50 back in February and age doesn’t bother me one bit, and I believe that my wife Islay feels the same. My youngest girl made this stunning cake above yesterday afternoon and we all sat outside in the sunshine and had a slice before I lit the BBQ to cook some supper. I am heading off later on for a few days of working away so we did the cake thing a day early and there’s plenty enough for my wife and two girls to light some candles and have another slice after their work and school this afternoon.

I went out for a 5k run at 5.45 this morning - yep, I’m running, still can’t believe I can run a 5k three times a week now! - and I was thinking about my wife turning 50 and the fact that a card from my mum to her daughter-in-law would be sitting on the kitchen table, waiting to be opened at breakfast. There was obviously nobody else around at that time this morning, and with some mighty fine music playing through my air pods I got a bit choked up that the card from my mum would be from my mum only, and not my mum and dad. It’s not far off a year ago that my dad died and I think about him every single day with so much love and gratitude for what an awesome dad he was. What I would give to have just one more chat with him. I got back from my run to find my wife and two girls having breakfast and it felt so good to be with my family. Happy Birthday to my amazing wife, you really are the most outstanding person.