The (almost) invisible birthday girl

K is 17 today, and I was looking forward to actually seeing her on her birthday for the first time since 2012. For much of the day, though, it looked as though it wasn't going to happen, at least in a literal 'with my own eyes' sense. She'd texted me very late last night, asking me to ring her early this morning, because she was planning to get up and go out for 'birthday breakfast coffee' with a friend, but when I did call, on my way back from work, her plans had changed, and she'd decided on a lie-in instead, asking for a later wake-up call. at around 10:30. Given that I didn't get in until after 9:00, this wasn't a problem from my perspective, but when I tapped on her bedroom door at the agreed time, all I got was her disembodied voice, and by the time she actually got up, I was asleep myself. She went out to lunch with some schoolfriends, but was going to call back at the flat before heading up to town for her late, late 'breakfast coffee'. This was apparently overtaken by events, though, and she went straight from one 'social' to the other, leaving me wondering, rather sadly, if I was going to see her after all. Ninety minutes or so ago, though, she texted me to say that she was on the tube on the way home, and I finally got to give her a birthday hug in the last hour. And now I'm just about to get ready to head out for my last night shift of this particular batch, and K is ensconced, teenage-style, in her room. Never mind, we are going to get some quality time tomorrow - I'm off, at least after I finish at 7:00 in the morning, and we're going out for food and shopping, not necessarily in that order. She'll probably have had enough of me after a few hours, but any crumbs from her table are more than welcome!

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B