A SPECIAL DAY

Today is a special day, as concerns the usual author of blog entries, so I'm taking over Life without a gogglebox for a minute! Amanda has a habit of writing a bit about family members on here when their birthdays roll around, so I'm going to write a bit about Amanda.

Taking a look back through the blog archives to April of last year, we had just moved recently, Amanda had started a new job, and the daffodils were in full bloom. A year on, the daffodils are out again, Amanda is still working at Madingly, and we're still living in the same house, so in many ways things are much the same. There are significant differences though, especially that this year we're comfortably settled into life here and it no longer feels like a transient situation. The reason we're settled and comfortable is simple: Amanda has built herself (and me) a life here. Although we're thousands of miles from 'home', she has somehow managed to make this a home too. This one of the many things about Amanda that made me fall in love with her some years ago: her ability to make anywhere feel like home was demonstrated to me on our first camping trips. While I was more inclined to set the tent up, chuck stuff inside and call it done, Amanda would miraculously transform a musty tent into a home away from home! She has done the same here in England, and for that I'm truly grateful.

Amanda's a pretty incredible person all around; I suppose if you're reading this blog you really don't need me to tell you that! Her warmth and compassion make her a truly delightful person to talk to, and her sharp intellect makes her interesting to talk to too. I wonder sometimes, how much nicer place this world is for having Amanda in it. I then starting musing along the lines of trying to estimate how many hours a day she is out and about, how many people per hour she might encounter, how many people per hour those people might encounter having been put in a more cheerful mood from interacting with Amanda, and by then I'm so confused am trying to carry around numbers in my head that are so big that I just come back to the starting point, which for me is that the world is immeasurably better with Amanda around!

I could go on at great length, but seeing as you all know Amanda and hence how great she is, let me just say:
Happy Birthday Amanda! I hope you have a terrific day and a wonderful year to come!