Last night was our monthly book group meeting. I look forward to this every month. Nice people, interesting books, good conversation, and yummy food into the bargain.

Only last night, about an hour into the meeting, I developed a really awful headache. It felt like something was squishing my head from either side, just above my temples, and it made me feel nauseous and disoriented and, I'm sorry to say, irritable to the extent where I found myself utterly disliking a perfectly harmless person. I asked the hostess for some tylenol, but that didn't touch the headache. Eventually I realised it was no use, gave up, and went home. It was miserable; I felt very despondent and martyred driving home by myself. I had suggested this option to Bobby, as I knew that he was enjoying the conversation, and could get a ride home with someone else in the group who lives fairly near to us. But it would have been nice if he'd said something along the lines of "No no, of course I can't let you go on your own. I too will leave immediately and will rub your feet and run you a soothing bath and nurture and pamper you in every possible way." But what he actually said was, "Oh, are you sure? Okay then, see you later. Drive carefully!" So that was a crappy evening, and I still had the headache when I woke up.

We went to church this morning, though, which was soothing and refreshing. The service was a nice one to take Bobby's (very Christian) folks to - it was about the UU influence on Christmas carols, so nothing too jarring for them. No goddess stuff, for instance. Bobby's mum seems to feel reassured, having been there, but Bobby's dad (who is a bit more perceptive in many ways) was looking a bit dubious. We had lunch at Panera afterwards, and then went for a walk around Lake Eola. It was gorgeous; typical Florida winter weather, all blue sky and fresh crisp air and sun to bask in. Everyone enjoyed it.



Bobby's folks came home for a rest afterwards, and the other five of us went climbing, which provided me with some much-needed exercise.

And then this evening we watched a movie together. It is a bit of a challenge trying to find one that all seven of us, with our varied ages and political and religious views, can appreciate. Watching a movie with Bobby's folks can be a bit stressful, as they don't cope too well with profanity or sex scenes. A couple of years ago we picked Four Weddings and a Funeral ... bad idea. We'd seen it ages before and remembered it vaguely as an amusing, light hearted movie. Turned out that we'd forgotten that that's the one that starts with people oversleeping, and the only word one hears for quite some time is "fuck". And then people sleep together and some of them are gay ... all Not Really On in Prestbury Methodist circles. So that didn't really go down awfully well with the folks. So anyway, tonight's movie was surprisingly successful; no-one was either bored or offended.

And tomorrow is my birthday. This is the first year that I haven't been excited about a birthday. I'll be 35 ... officially middle aged. I'm trying not to be depressed about it but I'm really feeling that this is the start of the slippery slide to senility and the grave. The kids are all incredibly excited about it though, so hopefully some of that will rub off on me tomorrow morning.