Happily, I am 30
I do have to talk about my birthday.
It’s not about turning 30, surprisingly. I thought I’d feel different. Something might fall into place. Or not. Or get messed up. Or not. I thought I’d have something to say about some sort of transition. Vaguely. Somehow.
Funny huh. Didn’t pan out the way I thought it would. It turned out to be a birthday not about me at all. It ended up being about kindness. Friendship. Thoughtful friends. Love. In other words, about other people and this world outside of my head and my enormous sense of self.
Some of my favourite bits: A teddy bear that contained a sweetly awkward happy birthday song recording. A hurriedly put together late night party where we wore birthday hats and I played the happy birthday song on the piano. Words of encouragement and love. A birthday fruit tart packed in a box for me to bring back and savour at home. A bag that contained one little gift after another, such that even the bag design was intentional. A home-made video clip that struck the perfect balance of mush and funny.
Maybe it’s because these gifts were utterly unexpected, that I was touched. I thought I’d just have a few dinners with different groups of close friends and my family, maybe get a couple of angbaos as per tradition, and that’d be it. . But it turned out to be much more than that. I didn’t even tell some of them that it was my birthday, but they remembered (the power of facebook, probably) and came with a gift when we met for what I thought was to be a normal meal. Colleagues at my new office completely surprised me with their gift, because I was fairly sure I hadn’t mentioned my birthday to anyone.
Mind you, the presents were also not expensive things. That’s the best part. Just really, really thoughtful gestures. *beam*
At some point, I still want to throw a party, just because. But not yet. I want to savour this birthday quietly, for as long as the sweetness would last.