How I celebrated my birthday

Every year on my birthday, I would take leave. I cannot remember how long I have practised this, but for sure, since I had Ryan, I have been doing this. And usually, I would go have my hair cut and changed its style, be it highlighting, colour or perm. This year, I had this done earlier and so, I did not do it yesterday.

This year, I celebrated it differently. I first dropped Ryan off at school and then proceeded to having breakfast at The Curve. I wanted to go get my Ikea catalogue and wanted to stroll around the furniture stores there. I also wanted to go get my Starbucks coffee.

I did all that and then went to pick Ryan from school. I got to tell you, picking the kid up and seeing his bright cheery smile is really priceless. Made my birthday for sure. After packing him off for his nap, I rested for a while with my "Everybody Loves Raymond" comedy.

Hubby came home soon after late in the afternoon and we went to Genting, without the kids. When he first suggested it, I thought he was joking. Turns out, he was not. The drive up was good, except for a slow stretch in the middle. It was quite a refreshing experience when we arrived. Not much traffic and cool crisp air. It was raining a little and we had to wait a while in the car.

Unlike when we went there before Ryan, our trip up there this time was really quite quiet. We did not go for any of the rides, we did not go to the parks, we just walked around and sat outside of Coffee Bean's! We did not even get a drink. We just sat and talked, in peace. No kid to demand attention, no baby to feed, all was quiet.

When we got hungry, we went to look for food. I wanted Western, but then I did not want to pay for things I can cook. So we walked some more and still cannot find vegetarian food. In the end we settled for Pizza Hut. yup, good old Pizza Hut. We ate pretty much in silence, such a change. Ordinarily, I would have complained that we did not talk and we are running out of topics to talk about. But this time, I think we are enjoying it, really.

We walked some more after dinner and even managed some games at the amusement centre, some Initial D race. By the time we got to the car, we were already tired. Age really does damage the system!

The drive down the hill was a little faster, mostly because of the slopes, but also I think we wanted to rush home to the kids. Things are not the same without them. Megan had already gone to sleep and Ryan was excited about cutting my cake. Turns out, we did not have one. So, to make up for it, we cut some jellies, with a candle in it too. We sang the good old birthday song and Ryan blew out my candle. We ate and soon slept.

I had turned 35. What better way to feel than good about it? I have my health, family and tomorrow to look forward to. Looking forward to 36 now ...