Pink Ladies

My favourite artist is Alicia Beth Moore AKA Pink. Her songs tell a story of a woman who has overcome so much to get to where she is. I’m not one of those fans who googles every little thing about their hero! No! instead I listen to her music and feel understood. There are times her songs hit me so much emotion that it makes me cry, and I am not a crier!

I got to experience a live show once. My aunt and her wife surprised me with two tickets and a night in a lovely hotel in Limerick. The walk there was gruelling, and we had to climb hundreds of stairs to our seats, but the concert was amazing! That’s just the introduction into my story about the colour pink…

Both myself and my mother look after my grandmother ever two weeks for five days. When we go down, there is always a games night with me, my auntie and her wife. We call ourselves the ‘squad’ because when they whisked me off to pride the year I came out, we wore matching t-shirts with ‘squad’ written on the front of them.

Last night, Lorraine, my aunties wife, called into nanny’s house to ask if I wanted a games night. I jumped at the chance but I was still in my pyjamas and the dinner was nearly ready. She was going in to collect an Indian from a place in Waterford city and asked if I could be ready in thirty minutes, that she’s pick me up on her way home.

I ran up the stairs, two at a time, and quickly got dressed and then ran down the stairs and wolfed my dinner to be ready and not have her left in the driveway for hours.

As she was pulling into Tramore, she gave me a ring to say she was three minutes away. I put on my coat and picked up my bag and said goodbye to my mom and nanny. I stood in the hallway, the weather wild, and waited patiently for her.

When the car drove into the driveway, I braved the elements and ran out to her.

‘I’m sorry Sinead, I never thought of asking you if you wanted some Indian!’ Lorraine said to me as I brushed back the hood of my jacket.

‘That’s ok Lorraine,’ I said to her, ‘I’m not one for Indian food at all. Besides I just had sausages and chips, the other pair had steak. bridie of course didn’t finish hers, so I have dinner for the girls sorted!’

bridie is a nick name we have for my nanny. In the beginning, we used it so we could talk in front of her without her knowing we were talking about her. Last year however, someone asked, ‘where’s bridie?’ and nanny responded, ‘I’m here!’ Well, the laughter almost lifted the roof of the house! Everyone knew then that even though she has dementia, the old, alert nanny, pops her head out of her shell every now and again.

Just before we left the driveway, Lorraine’s phone rang, it was my aunt, Fiona. Lorraine told me I was a surprise and not to say anything. It felt like a covert operation! Fiona’s favourite food and her favourite niece, in my mind anyway, were both wrapped up in the car.

We booted it home, not daring to go over the speed limit of course! When I entered the house, daisy was all over me, she is the puggle with the pink collar. belle, who is much more reserved and lady like came over to me, her tail wagging and kissed my finger, the other one scratching my legs wanting me to pick her up!

Daisy is a very cuddly character and love nothing more than to jump into your arms and plant her head on your cheek. We were under a time constraint however, so I just went into the kitchen and sat in the chair as far away from the door as possible, daisy in toe.

When mummy took the steak out of the tin foil, daisy started to howl in gratitude. Auntie Sinead had done good again! The pair wolfed down the dinner and just as Fiona pulled in, Lorraine hid behind the kitchen door. We were both giggling inaudibly as Fiona was met with two waggy tails and didn’t know whether mummy was in the house or not. She got a fright when she saw me at the kitchen table, and an even bigger fright as mummy jumped out from behind the door.

Daisy, God bless her soul, was anxious that other mummy was ok and jumped into Fiona’s arms where she had to catch her and she planted her face on other mummy’s cheek, her tail wagging. The squad was back again!

We decided to play Ticket to Ride Europe. It’s a multi country train adventure game in which players collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities through Europe! Its our favourite game to play and just as we were getting started, I was taking out the red trains from their packaging when the two ladies looked at each other and Fiona tapped her trains.

‘What’s wrong?’ Lorraine answered.

‘Do you want to…, Fiona replied.

I was lost so I planned my route in my head not knowing what they were up to. Suddenly, Lorraine gets up from the table and goes out to the office where she arrived back with a tin box and handed it to me. Wasn’t it only pink trains! I quickly put the red ones back and opened my fabulous pink trains which were in a lovely pink tin and not only were the trains pink, but the counter that keeps the points and the stations to boot. My eyes filled up with tears. I got a hug from each of the ladies and as they were special pink trains, I only went and won the game!

Daisy then jumped into my arms with her pink collar and planted her face on my cheek her tail wagging all of the pieces off of the board like windscreen wipers wipe rain off of a cars windscreen, only faster. The other pair were left catching trains left right and centre as I got my celebratory hug off my cuddly niece. She stayed in my arms until I could feel them get tired because she’s not small, and I had to put her down. She looked up at me with sad eyes and I said to her, ‘you must be my lucky charm being the pink lady in the squad!’ She sneezed and nodded as if to say, ‘my sentiments exactly!’

As the game was over and it was ten o’clock at night, I felt really special. I had my pink collared lucky charm, along with my pink trains and a song by Pink stuck in my head. Not a bad way to spend the evening!