The Quarter of a Century

'Party' 1!

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'Party' 2!

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'Party' 3!

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'Party' 4!

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Birthdays are great reminders of your life’s milestones. They are checkpoints, if you will. This is especially true when it approaches a significant number, like 25. It has been a quarter of a century since I existed in this world. This year my main priority for my birthday is to remember what it is that has gotten me here.
My family.
My old friends.
My new friends.
People. Every point of my life’s milestones involved people. So since this birthday is all about celebrating people in my life, it’s only right that I have a few different ‘get-togethers’ from them all, right? :)
‘Party’ 1 – My office friends and I hung out at RAW, a coffee place near the Twin Towers. We were initially there to celebrate a friend who just got married and another friend who was about to get hitched. It was Wednesday, and two of us had our birthdays approaching, so they bought us each a birthday Tiramisu. Excellent dessert, by the way. I finished it even as I was approaching my barfing point.
‘Party’ 2 – My brother and sister surprised me with cupcakes at midnight! They woke me up and came into the bedroom with the candles lit. My family has never really been big on birthdays (we usually just go out for dinner and call it a day) so this was a really nice gesture. The funny part was there were only four cupcakes in a six-cupcake box, because they were too broke to buy six cupcakes at the mall haha. I love my family!
‘Party’ 3 – It isn’t really a birthday unless there is an occasion with my high school girlfriends. These are my oldest set of friends, and we lived together for five years in a boarding school so you can imagine the kind of things (and horrible!) secrets we know about each other. This time it was just the two of them who could turn up, but it was nice anyway. They bought me two books, one of them being “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man”. See? Told you they know me well.
‘Party’ 4 – My friends I found when I moved to the city. We had a nice dinner at Ben’s, with the usual dumb jokes and hilarity that I always get from this group. They all chipped in and bought me a really nice pearl-colored purse clutch. I doubt that the guys really participated in the purchase anyway (thank God, otherwise I might’ve gotten a really ugly handbag. Or a car polish.). One of the guys even pointed out that he didn’t even know what a clutch was.
And the birthday cards and well-wishes from everyone else just absolutely made my day. It only goes to show that a bit of kind thought from you can bring so much positivity to someone else, so we should all strive to appreciate the people around us and LET THEM KNOW THAT.

So here’s to remembering and appreciating people who exist in our lives!