artschool girlfriend

Perfect Day

It’s the perfect day,
Tomorrow’s gonna come too soon
I could stay, forever as I am

- Hoku

I recently celebrated my 25^th birthday (woohoo!). Personally, the best holidays ever invented are Christmas and my birthday. I love celebrating these two special days.

Christmases have always been special to me. It is a big event for our small family. We all meet up in my Lola’s house on Christmas day and have a special luncheon. Grown-ups would do tsismisan in the kitchen, while the kids spread out on the living floor playing with their brand new toys. Our clan’s Christmas was also an inspiration in one short story I wrote last year. That’s how special this holiday is for me.

The other big occasion, which is my birthday, is another super important day, well at least for me. There never was a year that I did not celebrate my birthday. When I was younger my mom would prepare a simple sal­o-salo for me and my friends. I never did celebrate my birthday in McDonald’s, but it was ok. I never wanted one anyway. Ever since, I have always seen my birthday as an intimate gathering than a commercial thing. It is an occasion where my mom would prepare only her best dishes and where she would use her best china’s. McDonald’s doesn’t have those, right? The only time we foregone with this was when I celebrated my 18^th birthday in the same place where my folks had their wedding reception. –Gawd I am such a sentimental freak. I realize. Lol. And the time my birthday fell on a Good Friday, but my good friends gave me a surprise party on a Holy Monday though and it was so much fun.

Supposedly I would celebrate my birthday eve in the office, that could’ve been the first time but since it is a “big event” for me, I didn’t want to. I checked in by 12:30am though and stayed a little longer than I had to, hehe.

When I got home there was no electricity in the neighborhood, apparently some drunk truck driver crashed on a pole, to my sister’s dismay. Its summer and it was super hot. My mom asked me to go with her to the supermarket than suffer from the heat. I badly wanted to sleep but it was my birthday so no, I don’t want to miss out on my day.

It was nice spending some quality mother and daughter time in the grocery, aside from she gets to pay for the food items, hehe. Nowadays it’s rare that we get to go out. I’m sleeping during the day and she works harder than ever. So it was a pleasant day in the supermarket with her, which was a surprise. No harsh words, no miscommunication, no shouting, just a fun ride to the market.

Another surprise was when I heard mass with sister in our parish. I started to cry during communion to her amusement. I tried to fight the tears though but my eyes just started to swell. Everything was overwhelming that I wasn’t able to contain it.

Then I had my birthday dinner with just my dad, my mom and my sister. My older brother went earlier to work, so it was just the four of us and that was the first time that I celebrated my birthday with just us, no friends, no guests, just us. My mom made Tuna Pasta, Mixed Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce and her special homemade hamburger. Then we had a small Dulce de Leche birthday cake and some ice cream. My dad started to sing “Happy Birthday”, and no it wasn’t sweet, he just wanted to eat the cake, hehe.

Yehess, I am 25, I am sentimental and I cry easily and I also had the perfect birthday.