Rising from her seat with a huge smile on her face Rachel couldn't help but feel overwhelmed, 10 years ago she imagined marking this milestone alone with a bottle of red, a takeaway and a chick flick yet here she was surrounded by people who loved her, the most important being her husband and her 3 beautiful girls. She wouldn't want it any other way. Coming back from her moment of reflection she remembered she was supposed to make a speech. "Wow how can I possibly top that" she asked genuinely turning to plant a kiss on her husband's cheek, he was positivity beaming with love and pride and she felt her heart soar. "Firstly I want to thank you all, for making tonight so special, you will never know how much it means to me that I have incredible people like you lot in my life, each and every single one of you mean so much to me and I love you all I know your not used to me being the emotional one but I've had one too many glasses of wine and it had to be said. if you had told me years ago this is how I would spend my 50th I never would have believed you but I'm so grateful. I'm grateful to all of you and i'm especially grateful to my amazing husband for organising tonight and for everything he has done for me, I can't imagine my life without him. I'm grateful to my three beautiful girls for allowing me to achieve my biggest dream, for letting me grow and learn every day and for loving me as much as I love them even when I drive them mad with my fussing. Thank you all, I hope you enjoy the rest of the night, I believe the next round of drinks are on Eddie so get yourselves to the bar". With the huge cheer and applause that followed she took her seat and sipped her wine. "Ah thanks Rach that's going to cost a fortune" Eddie joked. "Sorry" she giggled taking their daughter from his knee, "you better get over there before they start rioting". He reluctantly stood up, "I will get you back for this he said cheekily", "I'm sure you will" she said with a smile and a glint in her eyes that made him go weak at the knees.

A few hours and plenty of drinks later she lay in bed wrapped in her husband's arms and decided if this was 50 it wasn't so bad. She could live with this she thought as her eyes closed and sleep overtook her