My 24th birthday celebration
I completed 24 years on 31st December 2020 and it was one of the best days of my life and hands down, best birthday ever😊
Partly because every single one of my cousins turned up with all my aunts and uncles, also partly because of meeting the beach after so long and playing with my frothy friends- the waves, whom I had sorely missed due to the Covid pandemic.
But mostly because I finally felt like celebrating, after so long. I put on a good dress, did my face and hair, and was ready to go out on the town, celebrate and be happy!
Given my history of birthdays, this was surprising even to me. If you’re born on new year’s eve, chances are you never got to celebrate it in school as a kid because it was a holiday. No strutting about in your new dress, handing candies to your classmates and saving extra ones for your besties. When you grow up into your tweens and teens, nothing much changes, in fact many of your friends might end up forgetting your birthday what with new year celebrations and parties. But family members and a few trusty friends always call and wish though. A couple of them are sweet enough to meet, spend time with you and bring a gift. That would put a smile on your face. Other than that, it would be just another normal day. Especially if your family is not big on celebrations.
As you and your siblings grow older into adults and your parents start getting aged, the family begins to grow apart. Everyone finds people who are more similar to them and people who understand them better in their work and friends circle. They begin spending more time with them and plan their lives around them. Family, eventually is forgotten. Fights occur frequently, but are unresolved. Discontent is felt, but it remains unspoken. Because no time is spared towards healing the family. Soon conversations become monosyllabic and dinner is had in separate virtual worlds, though seated at the same physical table.
And new year eve birthdays..it’s hanging out with the latest group of “friends” who happened to remember your birthday and who you believed, “totally understood” you.
But the past year, it’s like the universe looked at the sad fate of the dinner table and said, enough is enough! Time to teach these morons a lesson.
When the lockdown began, I was exhilarated for a couple of weeks as there was no travelling to work. But soon the novelty wore off and I was faced with the unique challenge of having to spend the entire day inside, with family, no choice in the matter. Not to mention having to take the brunt of household chores. For 2–3 months, friends called and I kept in touch but after that, we drifted apart. On the other side, conversations with family increased a little..there were fights of course, there will always be, but there was also the realization that family is the only constant. That propelled me to keep in touch with more family- grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. When the restrictions eased, we visited each other quite often and spent some happy time with each other. I had more time for long conversations with my sisters, singing, dancing, eating..just having fun together. One of them even got married and we had a blast of a time preparing for it. We remembered all birthdays and tried as much as possible to celebrate it together.
The year drew to a close and my birthday was approaching. We decided to have a family get together on my birthday this year and celebrate it big. And celebrate we did!🤩🥰
We went to the beach, I frolicked in the waves with my cousins, mom and aunts and then we went to a nice restaurant for dinner. My newly married darling sister and her husband got me an awesome birthday cake, and.. for the first time in 20 years I think..my entire extended family gathered around me and sang “ happy birthday to you…” as I stood there grinning ear to ear😁
We polished off the cake and my other beloved little sister, the other pea in my pod, my almost replica😄 wrote me a blog as a birthday gift and I was in splits after reading it! Here’s her handle- Dumbtomato . You can check it out too! To her, I want to say- I love you too bae 😘 and I’m so sorry I tried to kill you when you were a kid booboo..I hope all the times I took you out to eat would make up for it🤣
Of course, I have to shout out to the two sweet friends who always called. I was able to meet one of them and I loved their gift! Thank you for the poster colors and brushes..you have a painting coming your way😊
I ended the day on a happy note and I started the new year 2021 on a happy note😇 When you’re surrounded by family who love you, new year’s eve is a pretty great day to celebrate your birthday!
The past year has taught us a lot, but mainly, it has reminded us that we’re mere mortals. So, the time we have on this earth, let us spend it with people who really matter- family who will always stand by our side and true friends who will not forget what friendship means.
And most importantly, let’s always remember to celebrate life any chance we get😊
Until next time, Adios👋👋
