Vintage wine…

We have invented some nice rituals for birthdays around here. On the birthday morning, the birthday person is woken up by the rest of the family singing a cacophonous song, "Hurray, hurray it's a happy birthday…sing a happy song, sing along, it's X's birthday!" to the tune of Holi-holiday by Boney M. We make a weird-looking crown, using some brightly coloured paper and my hairband and the birthday person has to wear it upon getting up until they get ready for the day. Chubbocks' birthday gave us some good opportunities for leg-pulling too. We told him we could only afford 2 books and a water pistol this year. Being a sweetie, he was all agog at the mention of books. Then, come birthday morning, after the singing, he was presented with a gift-wrapped bicycle helmet, in vivid bright yellow and blue. We told him it was to ensure he could ride around on his bicycle safely. "Can I have a cycle for my birthday? A Firefox?" he pleaded, brown eyes all melty. "No, C, we can't afford it this year but you can have this nice helmet."

Quite excited about showing it off on his old cycle, our man came into the living room and almost missed seeing his brand new Firefox cycle standing right in the center. Once he saw it, his face bloomed like a flower, all excited and bashful at the same time. He had his first accident right here, bashing into the Aram candlestand. We had a traditional oil ceremony at my parents' house, where he received his bonus gift of the year – a large Casio keyboard!

On my birthday I was expecting to keep things simple…and they were. We began as usual with the song and crown. A surprised me with a lovely necklace – very chic and modern. Quite a surprise since I wasn't expecting gifts this year. Then I toodled off to work, getting many calls from family and friends enroute. Work was a bit crazy with many stirring happenings and my boss being in town. We wound up having lunch at the food court – some yummy Thai curry and rice. Back at home, the kids agreed to go to bed early and conveniently slept off on time, giving A and me the chance to go out on a date. We went to a bar-restaurant right around the corner from the house. The food sucked but the drink was nice and the music peppy, and being around so many people much younger than moi made me feel all pepped up.

At the end of the evening, I realized that though I was older in life experience, I didn't feel a whole heck of a lot older in real years, in maturity ( sometimes), in almost any way that counts. I didn't feel the urge to wear dull colours, stop or start colouring my hair or making any lifestyle changes apart from exercising. Hey, at last I was happy to be me!