Quarter of a Century Gone By
"You're a quarter of a century old now!"
So said a friend of mine (cheers, Jou!), before gleefully exulting that I am now the same age as she for a month. And she was right - I have indeed touched 25, that milestone on the way to a hundred. Slowly, I'm getting older, though I'm sceptical of my mind's ageing process in tandem with my body's.
Numbers aside, this is the first time I'm celebrating my birthday away from my family and friends back home. And well, customary practices can't be replicated, certain people can't be met, places can't be gone to. It's different. It's trivially unimportant. It's a strange kind of lonely.
Thank God (literally) for Jou, and later Dinah for having meals with me, and Denise for yakking my ear off online and watching a movie with me late into the night ('Pitch Perfect' was a brilliant choice). And I managed to talk briefly to my mom, pray, thank people for their birthday wishes on Facebook and unwrap belated-Christmas, now-birthday presents. Small things, but enough to chase the solitude away and remind me that there's never such a thing as being alone when you have friends. As Glinda sung it; because I knew you, I have been changed for good.
And so I march, past these fading walls papered with memories and out the gates to meet the big 2-5 head on. Wish me luck, pray for my triumph, and hold my hand through the inevitable falls. Here I go.
“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”
― Robert Frost
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
― Proverbs 3:5-6
But first, cake.
Also, because this deserves to be archived in this small corner of my internet;
Bell, this is amazing! The amount of detail you've put into making Nefz is astounding; he's sitting on my shelf now. Seriously, thank you so very, very much. ♥
So said a friend of mine (cheers, Jou!), before gleefully exulting that I am now the same age as she for a month. And she was right - I have indeed touched 25, that milestone on the way to a hundred. Slowly, I'm getting older, though I'm sceptical of my mind's ageing process in tandem with my body's.
Numbers aside, this is the first time I'm celebrating my birthday away from my family and friends back home. And well, customary practices can't be replicated, certain people can't be met, places can't be gone to. It's different. It's trivially unimportant. It's a strange kind of lonely.
Thank God (literally) for Jou, and later Dinah for having meals with me, and Denise for yakking my ear off online and watching a movie with me late into the night ('Pitch Perfect' was a brilliant choice). And I managed to talk briefly to my mom, pray, thank people for their birthday wishes on Facebook and unwrap belated-Christmas, now-birthday presents. Small things, but enough to chase the solitude away and remind me that there's never such a thing as being alone when you have friends. As Glinda sung it; because I knew you, I have been changed for good.
And so I march, past these fading walls papered with memories and out the gates to meet the big 2-5 head on. Wish me luck, pray for my triumph, and hold my hand through the inevitable falls. Here I go.
“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”
― Robert Frost
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
― Proverbs 3:5-6
But first, cake.
Also, because this deserves to be archived in this small corner of my internet;
Bell, this is amazing! The amount of detail you've put into making Nefz is astounding; he's sitting on my shelf now. Seriously, thank you so very, very much. ♥