01-12-2021
One afternoon before my birthday, I dressed up warmly and went out for a walk through the front door, when I heard my daughter calling me: “Mommy, you have a deliver at the back door.”
I came back home, opened the back door, and saw a very long box. I was surprised to see two dozen very pretty rainbow colored roses after I opened the big box. The roses were a surprise birthday gift from my son and I was overjoyed to see them. My daughter quickly took a few shots of my taking out the two dozen pretty roses, a very exciting moment became a very warm and fuzzy memory.
The night before my birthday, my daughter started to plan my birthday activities. Due to the COVID-19 rule, we could not have a gather, and I didn’t want to have outdoor activities because of the cold winter. My daughter announced: “OK, we will go shopping at Kan Man tomorrow.”
I was not interested about her plan:”What are we going to do in a Chinese store on my birthday?”
My daughter said: “You can go shopping for a long time, and I won’t complain. Plus, you will have a special permission to buy a box of pears!”
I laughed right after I heard what she said because there was a story behind her words. Normally, we only go shopping at Kam Man less than every quarter year, so I always want to look for more things to buy when we go there. However, my daughter always rushes me out. One time, I wanted to buy a big box of pears, but my daughter argued that the two of us could not finish a big box of pears quickly and there was no space in our refrigerator, so some pear would be rotten and wasted. I was very unhappy about not buying that box of pears for a while.
So, I happily accept her proposal.
In the morning on my birthday, my daughter made a omelette, onion pan cake, and coffee for breakfast. After our breakfast, I read my daughter’s birthday card, its printed cover read: “Another Year More Amazing” “Another Year More Loved”.
At the beginning of “Another Year More Amazing”, I received an extremely amazing and unique birthday gift: my daughter published a book call “Seasonal Musings” which contains 13 bilingual stories that I wrote in the past and which were chosen by my daughter, a selection of vignettes from ”Puddle of Gold“.
At the beginning of “Another Year More Loved”, while I was enjoying reading my daughter edited and published “Seasonal Musings” hard copy, I also enjoyed the sweetness of my daughter’s painting my nails bright red.
On my birthday, the bakery inside Kam Man Chinese store had a long line for the casher. My daughter said to me: “I will wait in line to buy some pineapple breads, you go shopping by yourself.”
I dashed to the fruit section immediately and put a box of pears (which had 11 very big pears) into my shopping cart happily. Then I bought many non-essential dry foods: red bean, lotus seed, Baihe, Yiren, chrysanthemum, sweet osmanthus, rose bud, honeysuckle, black fungus, red pepper … which made me very happy.
After we came home from shopping, my daughter made steamed egg on a bed of green, which was very presentable, nutritious and delicious, for lunch. It has become a popular dish now.
The birthday dinner was made by my daughter too. My daughter doesn’t eat mushrooms, but she made two delicious mushroom dishes, a mujadara (a long process middle eastern dish she just learnt from Martha), and a fish. Our dinner had five very unique dishes, beautiful and tasty. We drank whisky, ate birthday cake, and watched a movie together, a sweet and warm evening event.
On my birthday, I received many greeting from relatives and friends online.
My friend Rachel and her children stopped by our home to give me their handmade birthday card, cake, and flowers, I was so touched. Rachel and I got to know each other more in 2020 due to the COVID-19 quarantine, I admired her a lot.
I am very thankful for the birthday wishes that were full of love, idler life and COVID-19’s shadow have been enriched and brightened by the sentiment flowing in the birthday wishes, making the Half-life of my happiness last very very long and me happy for a very very long time.
At the beginning of “Another Year More Amazing” and “Another Year More Loved”, I had a unforgettable birthday.
Little Episodes
Wearing outdoor clothes, I was happily looking at the birthday gift from my son. Photo was taken by my daughter.
The breakfast, lunch, and dinner made by my daughter on my birthday, the extremely amazing “Seasonal Musings” hard copy, and the rainbow rose from my son.
Due to COVID-19, we could not get together, my college roommate, Ping made me a very special birthday card.
Rachel and her children delivered their birthday cards to home.
