They say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, and exquisite perfume is probably not too far behind in the “pecking order”.
This weekend past, Janet, my beautiful partner and mother to our equally beautiful son, TomO, celebrated a significant milestone by turning fifty-years young!
Anyone who knows Janet would be in disbelief, unless they were aware, and of course it gives weight to my view that “how old would you be, if you didn’t know how old you were”?
Never mind, she is not fazed by it, and nor should she be as every year she blossoms even more so than the last, like a rose, timeless, delicate…
Not that she is a wallflower, not by any measure, we’ve jumped out of planes together, chasing each other across the wild blue sky, we’ve leaped tall buildings in a single-bound in a race to the ground, she always wins…



We celebrated in style with a cocktail party, “glammed-up” with family and friends.
Yes, I did buy a brand new black Tee shirt for the event.

And Janet loves a party, I wouldn’t call her a party girl, but she loves being around wonderful family and friends, all of whom adore her.
Crikey, didn’t I luck out by living next-door to Janet, yes, Janet was literally the “girl next door” and our coming together simply developed over time.
But how is this, Janet is a wonderful gardener and mows our lawn each week, strewth, if I was to go near the lawn mower I would incur her wrath, okay, a slap on the wrist…
Seriously, going down to see Bluey and the boy’s at the local footy club for a few beers is quite okay, but don’t you go touching that lawn mower Baz!
Anyway, in amongst the birthday celebrations, Janet and I held each other, and remembered that day thirty years ago, yes on her birthday, when I asked her to marry me!

Most people were surprised and didn’t actually know until I gave a small speech!
She said “yes”, phew!
I never buy lottery tickets, or gamble, after all my luck was all used up on that beautiful day…
I shared our story, of giving Janet a bottle of Chanel No. 5 perfume on that birthday, and there was a quip from the gathered that I must have flogged it, ‘cause there was no way I could have afforded it back then!
It was worth every cent I scratched together, and every birthday since that is what I have given Janet on her birthday.
But a couple of weeks ago, I asked here, “what do I buy you on this very special occasion”?

Janet looked at me, in her cheeky little way and said, “you know, it is traditional, I wouldn’t want anything else”!
So sweetie, Chanel No. 30 it is!
Happy birthday!
Barry…. That story is just beautiful. Written with such love, respect and humor.,I’m smiling. Happy happy birthday to the amazing Janet … How lucky are we to have her in our lives xxxxxxxxx.
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Thanks sweetie! And yes, we are all very lucky! 😉
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Happy Birthday to Janet and what a great story. I love it!
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Strewth, can you believe it, jumping out of as plane one day, mowing the lawn the next, and putting up with the “two boys” in between. No wonder they call her a Saint! 🙂
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Saint Janet deserves her Chanel 30, indeed!
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Congrats!
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Thanks Alessandro….
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Happy Birthday to Janet!
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Thanks Nancy….
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Happy Birthday.
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🙂
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Lovely to read about people being together for years and are still in awe of each other. Con grats, to both of you!
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Thank you, Janet is a wonderful person to spend my life with!
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Happy Birthday Janet! You make a perfect couple!
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Crikey, didn’t I luck out…
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YES YOU DID SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO???????
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Lovely! Happy Birthday to Janet and Happy Anniversary to both of you! We are a few years ahead 🙂
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Thankyou, on all counts…
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I wish her a very happy birthday, and many more. How could it be any different. She has you as her loving partner. What a nice tribute to her. And, she does NOT look 50. My dearest is like that, too. She’ll be 53 this month. Looks like 23 in my eyes.
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Ageless!
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so so sweet!! happy birthday janet!! and happy anniversary to both of you!! girl next door!! aw.. i love that!!
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“girl next door!! aw.. i love that!!” 😉
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happy birthday janet :}
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Thanks BG…
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