So I’ve recently fooled Adventures. I am a 23-year-old on a gap year route with the age limit of 22. Sneaky me.
Jokes, jokes. I was able to do gap year because I was 22 when I started, but I really am 23 now. I just wanted to share my birthday experience with you, because I’d definitely say it’s one for the books.
I spent the better portion of my life sharing my birthday with the first day back to school after winter break, therefore keeping me in contentedness with birthday celebrations between my mother, sister, the occasional friend, and the Kanki Japanese Steakhouse staff. But the Lord began to pleasantly surprise me in the little ways my birthday was celebrated after we were in a fully committed, Facebook official relationship.
Freshman year of college brought be a birthday in Disney World, which is pretty magical.
My first year of SCSL- the ministry college I attended for two years- brought a seemingly lonely, but super special birthday. I had to end my winter break early to go to a fundraiser half our school was working. We started the fundraiser (a 10-day, 14-hours-a-shift job) on my birthday. My mother, sad with the mother sadness of one who cannot properly shower their child in embarrassing moments on their special day, had, with much love and thought, pre-baked me a birthday cheesecake, packaged it in a disposable pan, and packed it away with a few plastic spoons. I spent the evening of my birthday on the floor of a stranger’s kitchen with a friend, my cheesecake, and a pair of fuzzy socks.
My second year, my monumental 21st birthday, I actually held a birthday party for myself, with more than three people, with was a first for me. I celebrated with a baby blue and pink fondant-covered cake with an elephant and numbered candles on top, courtesy of my mother, friends, a few pizzas, and my drink of choice-Capri Sun, the tropical flavor. To my beloved mother’s annoyance, I consistently switched the 1 and 2 throughout the night, advertising my age as 12, which was more appropriate to the cake.
My 22nd birthday was celebrated with my beloved now fiancé and his family, my closest friends, and a tub of strawberry ice cream with candles stuck in the top.
And now my 23rd birthday. I awoke to my beloved team singing a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’, a steaming cup of coffee, a birthday banner, and a cute little card and gift. For breakfast they made me a birthday quiche, and you’d only understand the magnificence of this if you truly understand how much I love quiche. I spent the day in awed amazement at the fact that I made it, with the Lord’s loving grace and blessings, 23 years. My tutoree, Chester, wished me a happy birthday, and then baked a brownie cake with me. For context, any time one of the children has a birthday, whoever tutors them would bake with them. So in turn, Chester wanted to bake with me for my birthday. I then ended the night eating a wonderful dinner with my team, indulging in far too much chocolate, and being doused in 23 cups of water, a Zambian tradition for birthdays.
At the end of the day, I lay in my tent on the Zambezi and pondered the mark of another year in my life, as one does on such occasions. And I thought to myself, how many other 23-year-olds get to spend their birthday halfway across the world doing exactly what they want to be doing? In fact, how many 23-year-olds are doing what they want to be doing, period? I consider myself a pretty lucky gal most of the time, but here, I consider myself an incredibly blessed gal. On a day that celebrates my life, I get to be bringing life and love to people who need it. I don’t have to get caught up in the yearly gaggle of gifts and sweets, and it’s actually really nice. It’s my birthday, but I get to celebrate it with people who, in the most loving way, take the attention off of me and redirect it to where it’s necessary. And it’s wonderful. I get to share my birthday with kids whose lives I’ve made some impact on, and who have made an incredible impact on mine. How many people get to say that? What a wonderful start to the most amazing year of my life to date.
