Life goes on (a.k.a. We are Not Afraid)

Although I had my long distance shell shock (I had large tears rolling down my cheeks in front of those colleagues who had figured out my London connection and stopped by my office to ask how things were) last week, there was still much work to do, a dress fitting to go to, and yet more work to do.

On Monday, despite the billing frenzy, I managed to get out for two hours for the first fitting of my wedding dress. I will obviously not describe the dress here for M. security reasons. It was lovely to wear the dress again, but I was pinned down so much I felt like the lady was trying to make an outline to do a paper cutout.
"Can you breathe? Can you move?" my friend F., who had come along to watch, asked as she observed the lady adding yet more pins to the skirt.
"Yes, just," I said. "If I put on any more weight though, I think the dress will pop."
"You look like you have boobs," F. said.
"Hurrah," I said.
The lady just looked at us, then said to me, "You look beautiful. Like a film star."
I tried on different veils and other accessories, then it was time for me to get out of the dress. Now, when I had changed into the dress earlier, I had just managed to avoid tearing it by opening it wide from the top and sort of jumping into it. Since I had been pinned down to the last milimetre, this was no longer feasible. The lady unzipped me and then both F. and her took hold of my arms, and I had to wiggle my bottom out of the dress first, before jumping out of it. How I'm going to get back into it for my second fitting, I'm not sure.

Then it was back to work at the most gruelling pace until this afternoon when my last deal closing ended. My partner found me sitting in my office looking a bit dazed. I hadn't slept much in the past forty-eight hours and I suppose despite all the make-up I was wearing the fatigue showed.
"What are you doing still here? Go home and get some rest," he said.
"I will, I will," I said. I was already shutting down my computer before he had appeared but he waited for me to get out of my office before saying I should have dinner with M. tonight on him (some day, I'm going to remind him of this offer).

There's nothing like having an afternoon nap, then some Haagen Daz icecream in front of the telly - t'is the best.