Advance Party

From the biggest card to the smallest cake, the most thoughtful, metaphorical and the most 'ara' gift - my friends got it all covered. 

While heading out of the house early today to grace the 3rd Big Breakfast birthday bash my friends are having for this year, I hummed a lot of thank yous to the universe. Not everyone gets to spend wonderful moments with their families, not everyone realizes their potential in making a better world, not everyone is blessed to have good mentors, not everyone enjoyed a noble profession called teaching, and not everyone gets to have great friends like mine. 

My gratitude needed double, or triple crunches. Especially on the 'having great friends' part. I have a treasury of friends who know me inside-out, and appreciate me for whatever package I come in (gusgusin man o naka-rebond, unemployed, strawberry preserves hoarder, temperamental, too idealistic, obsessive-compulsive, absent pirmi, etc). Too bad we missed the photo ops part.

I love you Suey, Ching, Krong, Janice, Gabby (even if you had to miss it) and the rest of my friends. The card was so huge, it was difficult to mount it on my lap while riding the tricycle. Thank you for the heartfelt messages and for the hugs and for the gifts. But most importantly, thank you for being my friends.

It was a simple and intimate birthday party scheduled a day ahead of my real birthday. And I couldn't imagine a better one.