Turning 2 . 1.

I've had birthdays where a cake would be absent, and candles not blown; wishes not made.
I've also had memorable birthdays where the love was so thick I could spread it on a piece of bread and eat it for breakfast, lasting me the whole day, the whole week, my whole life, even.

This birthday, the big 2-1 is one which I'll remember for all the right reasons.
I'll remember the moment when 30 plus of my coursemates sang in unison, a birthday song in multiple languages accompanying a cake which seriously caught me by surprise while out for a dinner, celebrating our newfound freedom from the shackles of exams.

I'll remember the midnight movie we had for dessert though 'Tornado' was hilarious for the all wrong reasons.
It was the night I stayed up to cheer Chelsea to their 1st leg win over Liverpool ( of which they eventually lost) in the common TV room with the rest of the Liverpool supporters.
Solitary shouts of GOAL ! amidst the groans.

And waking up the next morning for karaoke.

It was the time when my tattered phone was busy with 'teet-teet's prompting my roomie to reinforce her belief that I am the 'Queen of SMSes' - which I am SO not.

I'll remember it as the time I played tourist guide, showing off Klang as the royal town she is, with all her majestic glory and misgivings.

See that muddy, brown, slithery river? That's the infamous Klang river
This is where the Sultan lives- he wanted to give me the palace, but I politely declined..

I've learned that the bond that ties a family together pulls you close and surrounds you whether you'll admit it or not and that blood, running deep is thicker and definitely bloodier than RO water.
And that memories last forever, especially forgotten memories now embedded in frames.
I blew my second set of candles with the young, and the wise and those in between.

It was then I realized that distance is nothing. Indeed,thousands of miles and numerous oceans can sometimes mean so little. You can never top the feeling of receiving something from someone who's so far away and yet spared a thought for you in their busy lives.
That air mail postage bag?
I fear I might never throw it away.

Friends come and go and sometimes old ones drift apart, unknowingly, toward separate destinations. But blessed it is when time may be forgiving and old buddies come together, celebrating the times that had passed and sharing the new.
I blew my third set of candles with friends with whom I've waded through the beautiful and the ugly together.

I thank all of you, for everything.

Lots and lots, and a humongous load of love,

21 year-old me.