Now it just so happens that the girls' grandfather and I share a birthday. Since it was his 70th, there was a lovely little banquet in his honor. It was held at a Heuriger just north of my town here. There were old friends of Gerhard's and family present, some of whom I knew, and others I didn't. I wasn't to be too nervous, though, as good ol' Onkel Erich was so kind as to introduce me to the unfamiliar ones...as his new girlfriend.
Our evening officially began with a spoof of a Catholic litany, with the caller saying things like, "If we eat too much and have too much wine..." and the guests responding/singing together with "please forgive us." After some delicious wine, soup, and the main course, my girls recited a poem for Opa, as did a couple other guests...including Onkel Erich.
He opened with, "I know a person who..." and said lots of nice things, repeating that phrase throughout the poem. He ended with "I know a person who...was born on the 15th of January, 1989, and her name is Hilary," as he pulled out a box of chocolates for me as everyone began to laugh. I was so pleased and surprised (and I guess I'm nearing that certain time) that I didn't mind him calling me younger than I am.
Sunday morning brought another little surprise. I got up, showered, and dressed, and when we all sat down to breakfast together, Elisabeth came out with a birthday cake for our breakfast! The girls grabbed some gifts from the other table, and they sang for me before I blew out the candle. It was so sweet of them and I wasn't expecting it.
Shortly after breakfast, I left for church. Several of our young adults get together before church on Sundays and have a bible study over lunch. Andrea was waiting for me with beautiful flowers, Jess came with a card and pizza, Seungwoo led everyone in another round of happy birthday on the guitar, Steph and Darryl had a little American birthday gift from their trip home over the holidays, and I got lots of birthday hugs all around.
After church, everyone disappeared before I could say goodbye! So I left with Helen, my English friend, as we'd planned to have dinner at a little Italian place near our Austro-Brazilian friend Vic's house. Well, we got lost--but it was lightly snowing, so we were plenty entertained! Anyway, her friend had given her wrong directions, so we called Vic to see if he could help us. When he didn't answer, Helen insisted we just go to his house since it was so close and see if we could look it up online.
I felt so awkward just showing up, and even more so when I saw his face at the door. He uncomfortably explained that his dad was frustrated and he was helping him move stuff around, asked us to wait outside 5 minutes, and disappeared inside. I tried my hardest to convince Helen to just leave and go find a new place and let Vic know not to worry, but he came out pretty quickly to bring us inside. Helen kicked off her shoes and ran into the living room, asking me to come as well.
But I felt so strange there! I was uncomfortable, didn't feel welcome, and just wanted to get to dinner quickly. Besides, why should I take off my boots, scarf, hat, gloves and coat just to put them right back on? It took her and Vic at least 2 or 3 minutes to convince me that I had to help her, and as I walked into the living room, the lights flipped on and all of my friends popped up with a "SURPRISE!" (Don't worry--I still got my Italian...they had cooked a delicious dinner for everyone as well!)
I had been completely clueless. I thought I'm a pretty observant and intuitive person, but they got me. I couldn't believe it! There were black and white streamers everywhere, panda balloons in every corner, lampshades turned into pandas, and even a panda cake, complete with green candy bamboo and chocolate covered pocky sticks for some extra bamboo shoots.
I felt so incredibly loved on my birthday. I think my 24th year will be a milestone--there will be lots of change this year, and starting it off feeling like this is a fantastic way to do it. Thank you to my wonderful friends, near and far, who make my life so exciting!
Grace and peace,
Hilary
P.S. Enjoy a few more pictures, just because I loved my party so much:
I believe it's possible that I was shim-shamming with Kirstin and texting my Austrian family at the same time. It's a new 24-year-old skill.
Delicious pasta dinner with great company. I love how international my community is here. Our party was made up of American, English, Kenyan, Romanian, Brazilian, Austrian, Filipino and South Korean friends.
Now I'm old enough that pictures of my candles make it look like my cake's on fire!
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