Birthday Ramblings

Birthdays have always been important to me - especially mine :) For as long as I can remember, I have celebrated the 27th day of April in some form or another with those closest to me. For the past five years in particular, I have spent it with a person who has meant a great deal to me. This year, I was all set to spend a quiet, low-key birthday because of several reasons - age-wise, it seemed to be getting a little ridiculous for me to get all worked up anymore; further, I am away from home, in a VERY FAR OFF LAND, with none of my long-time friends nearby, and some significant chapters of my life closing with an inevitable finality. So, there I was, feeling alone, bereft, and not a little sorry for myself (which is an archaic English way of saying "very sorry for myself", for the uninitiated. I swear the influence of all those Victorian novels make their presence felt at the most inconvenient times!)

Anyhow, this was not to be. Probably because those who know me well knew how much fuss I usually make on my birthday, they made an extra effort to wish me and make me feel loved. This has been the most unusual birthday for me. The one time that I wished to forget that it was my birthday turned out to be the longest one ever thanks to the different timezones that I and my near and dear ones live in. Starting with cousins in Australian time who started wishing me more than a full day in advance, and then moving on to those in IST who began calling me from the morning of OUR 26th (the first call came at 6 Am on the 26th to be precise - I love you all but you gotta learn to calculate the time differences!!) , and then friends in the East Coast who are ahead of us by three hours. When people in PST finally began wishing me, it was beginning to feel anticlimactic! Apart from the many, many wishes on my facebook wall, I had friends and family remembering me and sending their blessings via whatsapp, and texts, not to mention the calls I received from assorted locations. Including the one person I thought I would not be hearing from.

Without naming names, among other things I also received this

and this

. A dear friend sent me a Starbucks gift card, so I went and got myself a birthday treat of coffee and cake, and thoroughly enjoyed it too:

I am also told that I have a gift arriving soon in the mail from a very special person, and I'll upload that when I get it.
I also had one person play "happy birthday" on the violin and send it to me. Someone in a different timezone stayed up all night to usher in the day with me at midnight, my time. Despite my protests. Between all the attention I got from so many nice people, I had a very busy two-day birthday via my electronic devices. Who says social media is ruining our lives?!

The point of this whole blog post is not to brag in any way, but to put on record how immensely blessed I feel and how grateful I am to every one who made an effort to make me, the laziest person when it comes to these social niceties, feel like a million bucks. Contrary to my intentions, nobody was willing to let me forget that it was my birthday, and in hindsight, I am thankful for the way God has gently reminded me - in the nicest way possible - that I have nothing to regret or be sad about. Getting older is one way of looking at it, and that can be depressing when you're single. But it takes a very slight adjustment in perspective and choose to see it as a milestone, a blessing, and to realize that not one day of life can be taken for granted when we cannot prolong our time here on earth for even a single minute. I am in awe of the greatness of He who can.

Cliches are cliches for a reason, and it is true that when one door closes, another opens. Some people and traditions will have to be relegated to memory, but then, new friends, new loves, and new memories are also made in the process. C'est la vie.

As for me, unlike any other year, I had a very low-key, mellow day just as I had expected, but unexpectedly, I loved it. Thank you, all!

Oh, and as we like to say it, do leave your paw prints in the comments section below if you're reading this :)