14^th June 2024 Beena

Hello, everyone. I am excited to write about cakes and birthdays. I painted this light, delightful cake with watercolour and coloured gel pens. I was trying something new this time, but no one noticed the pen part🤔🤔. I painted some outlines of the flowers and added some silver and gold highlights with the gel pen.

Now, let’s talk about birthdays. For many years, I kept my birthdate a secret, not feeling the need to celebrate. But despite my secrecy, my close friends always remembered the date. However, for the past two years, some of my close friends forgot to wish me😔. So, this year, I decided to remind only my friends about my birthday and requested a wish. The response was overwhelming, and I felt truly blessed. It was a reminder of the love and friendship that surrounds me. So, thank you to all my friends who remembered and wished me. Your wishes made my day truly special.

On my birthday, one of my friends from South Africa was the first to wish me. A phone call from the USA followed that, and Geetha sang the Happy Birthday song. Soon after, Itty and his wife called to wish me well. I had lunch with Shirley and dinner with my yoga group. Mini posted my birthday on a main chat group. I was unhappy with what she did but decided to let it pass, as many of my classmates wished me. Last night, Stef surprised me by taking me to a secret restaurant I had never heard of in all my years of living here. Prakash made an AI-generated greeting that included Zara and Mika🫠🫠. Huda posted the cake that I painted today. Lafa posted a blue rose from her garden. Jen wrote a beautiful summary about me as a birthday greeting. All the effort everyone made touched me. Next week, I will continue to have a birthday dinner with my Amigos group🤗🤗🤗.

Finally, I realized. I felt elated each time someone wished me well. It instantly lifted my mood💃🏽💃🏽. In addition, my friends felt happy to celebrate, as we always laughed a lot🤣🤣🤣. We need to nurture our spirits during the winter phase of our lives. If that means spending time with friends who wish to celebrate a birthday, why not? Eating cake at birthdays is always a must. This time, Nyuk got healthy agar cakes that look yummy, too😍😍😍. Hence, my view of birthdays has changed because of my decision. I realized that everyone is busy and most likely to forget as there are more important things in life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making a gentle reminder. Thanks, guys, I will have another birthday blast next year🤗🙏💃🏽.