Today (tonight in Scotland) I am tired from too much fun, too much noise, too much laughing, and a little crying on the inside as I have struggled to keep up with my young friends over the weekend. As we left one young friend (one of our ‘other’ sons) and his delightful wife at the train station in Edinburgh today, I shed a few tears. It truly felt like one of my family was leaving, and tomorrow we will be leaving another ‘son’, who we have been together with celebrating his 30th birthday. They are two of four young friends who were year 11 students when I met them, working for me as Headmaster-imposed volunteer waiters and kitchen hands for a free function I was doing at their school, and then as paid employees throughout their senior schooling and university years. My head waiter at that time, Branko who now lives in Montenegro with his family trained them up and they all worked together brilliantly. I have had the definite pleasure to become and remain friends with them, rather than just the person who was their first boss, and we share a lot of funny memories that we often reminisce, perhaps stories for another blog some day. To be invited to spend a weekend with young men and women in their late 20’s and early 30’s is a privilege, and any time we spend with these friends is always a great pleasure. We have met some of their friends, Scottish and Aussie friends all congregating here for the celebrations, lots of cooking, and new or renewed friendships, too special to want to leave tomorrow. We will of course meet again, but as with my ‘real’ sons, I worry about the time I may not know who they are, may not remember them or how I know them, or the wonderful times we have shared. One girlfriend in Melbourne sent this to me some time ago, and it was the perfect file to come across when thinking about this blog, Kate, you will always be my friend and will always continue to be you even at the time you don’t remember me, I will always remember you!!!!!. You will still be Kate and no one can take that away from you. SR. This was very comforting then, and is especially so again now and somehow gives things a brighter perspective; I feel sure these friends will feel this way too. After 2 ½ days of being in a group socialising, I now feel as if I have been sitting four weeks’ of exams, as the effort it has taken me to function has been enormous, and the emotional drain quite high too, but the effort was worth it. My dear husband has had a day off (from being a carer) in Edinburgh on Saturday visiting castles and museums with some of them, while I stayed behind reading and writing, amid the quiet of the rolling hills and the fat wooly sheep. The love, friendship and laughter has been such a relief from dementia, and the hysterics of me playing games like Pictionary and Cranium, when I can’t draw and can’t remember things, has made it even funnier. My competitive spirit is still willing, but the simple truth is when all else fails, it is better to laugh, especially doing my humming rendition of Elvis Presley‘s Hound Dog.