Can You Keep a Secret?

I'm not sure it's really a secret. Not really secret. Well. I don't know that it's a 'shout it from the rooftops' sort of a thing or even a 'need-to-know basis' type thing. What I do know is it involves me, someone else, and the need for a new passport.

I don't think I've ever been quite so excited at getting a passport. (It took exactly 9 days, 10 if you count the day it was posted, to arrive. Considering when I got the first one folk were waiting months for them - this was in 1995 - I think that's pretty impressive). I arrived home last night and the mailbox by the door was empty. I knew I could expect the passport any day soon as they rang me last Friday to check something and told me it would arrive within five working days then. I still felt rather deflated on finding the mailbox empty...

I let myself into the flat. The door opens outwards and takes you straight into the kitchen, up a couple of steps and along to the far end where there is the bathroom directly ahead and the living room to the right. The light switch is at this far end. It being just about 7 pm on a November evening, it was already dark, so I couldn't see terribly well. I could however see well enough to spot a small rectangular envelope on the kitchen worktop! That was it - bags dropped, envelope ripped open, cries of glee and bouncing off the walls ensuing.

Of course, he wasn't home from work himself at that time of the day, so I had to wait hours to tell him. He seemed quite pleased himself.

My colleague Liz keeps grinning at me and calling me a dirty bitch. I cannot imagine why. Funny how everyone around me has noticed how much happier I've been since breaking up with the ex. I'd have been happier without the possibility of something altogether potentially quite wonderful maybe starting - it's a marvellously happy bonus.

Life's a gamble from start to finish. And as they say, 'better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all'. Not that I'm in love or anything like that - far too soon to be talking about that manner of thing. But if you don't place a bet, you can't enter the game, can you?

From a jack to a king
from loneliness to a wedding ring
I played an Ace and I won a Queen
and walked away with your heart

From a jack to a king
with no regrets I stacked the cards last night
And Lady Luck played her hand just right
to make me king of your heart

For just a little while I thought that I might lose the game
Then just in time I saw the twinkle in your eye

From a jack to a king
from loneliness to a wedding ring
I played an Ace and I won a Queen
you made me king of your heart

For just a little while...

(Written by Ned Miller)

So, there you have it. I am a dirty bitch with a passport, a huge smile and a secret.