I know I am growing old, because more than the friends and family’s wishes I had sms’s from Banks, insurance companies, shopping malls, mutual funds wishing me on my birthday – Luckily these wishes did not outnumber my family and friends circle. Small mercies in life.
I woke up this morning from a pleasant dream and lots of hugs from J and D, < Have I mentioned this before, I am sucker for hugs – People around me get tired of my requests for hugs and today, mind you only today, they were quite generous with it) and I had a smile playing on my face the entire day.
I am reminded of a quote “growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional”! And I guess this holds true for me in particular. :-) :-) Am I saying this with pride? May be.. I am 41 today ( OMG !!!), but I am not letting that come in the way of my attitude or in the way I lead my life and I have no qualms of accepting my age in any forum, not just in the blogosphere.
So here I am still feeling the need to wear new clothes ( I still get excited about new clothes – proof no one for not growing up !!) on my birthday and made sure I had plenty of them this time. I remember a couple of times, when I didn’t wear new clothes for my birthday in the past ( after marriage) I was overcome by enormous self pity later, and blew up exorbitant amount of money in gifts for myself. I am not taking a chance this time, am I?
J and D were so nice to me – anything was okay today and I did take a wee bit ( honestly, a wee bit) advantage of the fact that it was my birthday. J surprised me earlier this week with a lovely gift of a Kanchipuram saree ( which I would precisely wear once or twice). Infact, I had stopped picking up sarees for myself as I thought it is a lot of waste of money - 1. They are so difficult to wear and maintain 2. Once you wear a saree for an occasion you cannot wear it again ( a logic that J is never able to fathom, but I am sure many women would instinctively understand where I come from). J Keeps telling me that it is a criminal waste of money to buy sarees and just wear them only once.
Anyway I was surprised that J came up with this idea and I am still getting over the guilty pangs of picking up a saree which is the most expensive one in my wardrobe right now, and you know from the corner of my little heart, there were thoughts about killing so many silk worms, that I trying not to focus on…But I think I liked it. And J mentioned that he is so impressed with all the efforts had put in getting my little one prepare for his board exams. ( Pat on the back, moist eyes and play a melody in the background )
I had to go to office today as there was relaunch of an initiative from the unit that I work with and so I was at office in the city and spent my morning with a lot of kids and families of our organization. The little ones ( especially the girls and especially one little fellow) kept all of us on toes and made sure the morning was a pleasant and enjoyable one.
We had lunch together, J made sure he took a break from work during lunch time. I should have started my day with a mass, but it had to wait till evening. A cake cutting after church ( cake selected, ordered and brought home by D) completed my birthday. This is the first time, I had so many wishes on Facebook and I thanked each and every one.
All through the day, calls from loved ones kept me busy and everytime there was a call, I was ever so grateful. Rosanna played a song over phone on her Piano and really made me feel special, couple of other calls from onsite ( hey stop, onsite ??? or is it freinds abroad - occupationational hazards on being in IT) and some really close friends' calls made me feel so happy.
And there was something else that made me really feel happy. A couple of days ago, I guess it was on Monday, I lost a gold pendant at home. Actually the hook of my chain had come off, and this pendant must have slipped out. It was a nice heart and was gift from a couple of my close friends for a birthday two years ago. When I opened the door for my cook in the morning, I felt something slip in my neck and realized it was the chain and by then, the pendant was not there. I really felt bad about losing the pendant one because it was a gift from some close friends and two because I making losing gold a habit offlate. Though I was pretty sure about losing the pendant at home and finding it someday, this was on my thoughts constantly.
J has given up on me and after checking a couple of times stopped asking about it. I had told my maid about this and she did a clean sweep with no pendant in all the dust. Today D was in a hurry dressing up, as he was coming with me to my office and he called out saying Mamma, I got your pendant. It was in his shoes. I was so happy that I got it back and made a mental note to be careful with my belongings in the future.
Isnt that lovely, that I had to get this back on my birthday ? I feel a strong presence of my Lord in my life and feel when I pray he truly listens !!!!
