Birthday Recap

Earlier this week I had my birthday. It wasn’t a special birthday in numbers. it is one of those more insignificant ones, the ones that go by, are fun and then forgotten. But you know what every birthday has a right to be celebrated and so for memory documenting reasons I decided to write a quick birthday recap.

I didn’t want to do anything special. But then I also didn’t want to be alone on my birthday either because the husband needed to work. He switched around his schedule so he could work from home and went into office on Monday. Yeah him. This could be the end.

Sunday night however I realized that even if he works from home I won’t be seeing him besides lunch and dinner. So more or less alone on my birthday anyways. I could have worked myself but my workload is so light that I didn’t see any need or necessity in it. So I made new plans and told the husband he needs to into work so we can have dinner with my family – everyone is downtown Berlin.

When my birthday came around I woke to a cute little birthday table. Some presents and some candles – which I forgot to light. I read a bit in my book and then the husband sat down and I was to open my present. I was very happy girl. He gave me a new book “The Girl who fell beneath the Sea” and since I know him and his gift giving habits I knew every gift was catering to an overall theme. I had an inkling and I was right as I received the very anticipated and requested solar fountain for the terrace. I immediately assembled the fountain.

After that I wanted to do a yoga session but my best friend called so I decided to forego yoga enjoy chatting with her. After that I took a shower and while my hair dried I typed up the At the Moment blogpost. My own private celebration and a reflection on how I start into another trip around the sound.

At 11.45 I needed to leave the house because I had lunch plans with my oldest friend. I had last seen her July 2022 and in a whim of the moment I asked her if she was by any chance in the office that day because I had to pass that today. She made time and we met in a little beer garden. We shared a taste flambé and a goat cheese salad because we both wavered between those two options. It was a wonderful visit. I was a bit fearful that it’s going to be weird. We had a rough situation around both our weddings that – in retrospective – put a bump into our friendship. She also has kids now which is never easy to keep a friendship mainly because of time but also it’s such a different life we are living. But this meeting was so good and I really really left with a full heart any many things I didn’t get to ask or share with her. I am very much hoping to not having two years pass us by until we see each other again.

I dropped her off at her office building and then walked down the street for about 15 minutes to the hospital where my dad had his third and final surgery. He pays a lot of money for a single room and with that comes catering for four meals a day including for all his visitors. So I got us coffee and cake from said buffet and we celebrated my birthday together for three hours. I have received another book. One I have been asking for, for years and no one gave it to me. It’s an encyclopedia of 2,000 eatable plants native to Central Europe. It’s a brick. But I am looking forward learning so many things. I already skimmed through and saw that I can eat a plant from my terrace garden I didn’t know I could.

During my visit we also talked about the ancestry of my dad’s side. I tried to scribble things down so as not to forget. We realized we are missing a piece and decided we need to sit down with my grandpa’s brother and have him tell us all he knows before it is to late. he is in is 80s already.

At 6pm I left him to meet up with the rest of the family ( minus my sister who is not living in Berlin). I had reserved a table in a Persian restaurant close to my parents home wich happens to be also close to my sister and my husbands office. I walked there from the train station and was 10 minutes early so I sat and waited, read and replied to a bunch of birthday messages until my sister came.

My sister always has the best flower bouquets and this one was amazing.

We ordered some Persian lemonade and an Hugo for her and chatted away. She also gave me dinner at a Japanese restaurant. I am looking forward to that very much.

When my mom and my husband dropped in we had a wonderful time chatting and of course eating. The husband got himself mango pancakes which looked delicious. I am glad he found something to eat because I was not sure. We others ordered three main dishes and shared them all. Which was a wonderful way to taste and try all the different things a flavors. But see for yourself:

After dinner my mom went home as she didn’t feel too well. We other decided to go next door a night cap. Unfortunately everything was already closed on a Tuesday at 9.30pm. We walked the streets and then ended up at an asian place where we had another lemonade and the husband a mango lassi. Do you see a theme here… HA. We ended up chatting so long that my sister boyfriend managed to stop by after work and I got to hug him too. He is a camera man for the news stations so he has a weird schedule.

After that we headed home. At home I went to bed rather quickly while the husband needed a bit of alone time. I was very happy with my day.

The next morning I was able to admire the flowers my mom gave me along with a little folding garden bucket filled with plants, seeds and flowers accompanying the book my dad already gave me. I really like that present a lot too as I was already having a folding bucket in my cart for the terrace.

And this was my very low key but very love filled insignificant 42nd birthday.

Do you love celebrating birthdays? Can you remember your 42nd birthday? Or is it still ahead of you? Do you feel like there are some birthdays that just go by unnoticed as they seem insignificant?