leonniefm 18 May 2009 Special 96 views 5 Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

My husband always thinks I deserve special things. He gave me a book I have been eying for ages along with a card that says:

Love has been compared to many things,
from sunset to flowers;
But for me,
Love is simple.
It is you. Always,
always you

Three days away from my birthday, he said I should invite some friends to have a simple dinner at home. He also said some fried ducks would be perfect. He was right, everything was perfect that day.

A new friend and a “long-enough” friend came at late afternoon.  To saw how Ruby and Claudia enjoyed their lunch and gave-up their calories count made me feel so honored. Ruby was on her way to the airport for a visit to Paris. Claudia was as pretty as usual and soon on her way to another party. They both lead fabulous lives which I hope will never end.

The dinner planned to start at six. An expecting couple, Mandy and Ismet, showed-up surprisingly with a cake. I was frying the ducks. The room was filled with their aroma. It even filled the alley outside our unit, strong enough for Alfa and Aldo to follow to find our unit. When we opened the door, Alfa was video taping. Not surprising and still very sweet of her.

Another not so surprising moment was when we ate the ducks. We hardly spoke. Our parents would be so proud to see it. The ducks was originally marinated by a real Pecel Bebek merchant down at Wijaya. A little treasure Fajar and I found back when we were not yet married. Ever since, her ducks often become our signature dish to share in memorable events.

More friends came right after that. Ellen, Lisa, Nana, Pico, Patrick and Wita. My sister in laws Yemima and Tia who few days prior to my birthday had already sent some beautiful presents, came with boyfriend Ias and best friend Fanny.

To play the scene again in my head after it all wrapped is kind of touching. Never thought I would enjoy frying and serving dinner in a room so small. We don’t even have dining table. Friends and family were sitting on the floor. I made a table using two boxes of my kids toys and books covered with a piece of old cloth.

The laughter and the warmth filled the room so nicely, my children felt so comfortable in the surrounding of many new acquaintances. I may not have known them forever but it surely feels like it. It has been a very long time since I felt that I actually have friends.

There they were sitting on the floor, laughing, telling stories and jokes. Some of them met there for the first time since months of following each other on Twitter. You wouldn’t tell.

Some people might think that 32 is a scary number for an age. We are not young but not old enough to say we know life. Since that date, May 16 2009, I will always cherish that number. I will not be afraid that it keeps on adding-up every year knowing I have my friends. Friends who will not judge and making list of expectation in returns when we needed their favor. Friends who send me countless hugs, smiles for every happy and sad moments I countered. I feel that number is so perfect and life has been so perfectly kind to show me the kind of friendship these people offered me.

If one of them wrote from me she learned that life is beautiful. I write here that I learned from her and from all of them the meaning of friendship and love combined. And when a best friend wrote that I have a perfect life, I write I would not have it without her.

Thank you friends, your love brighten my year ahead.