One Less Pimple, One More Wrinkle

16th September 2005, Singapore - Thirty one years and a week old! That's exactly how old I am this day. I'd incidentally typed the title of this entry to a colleague, Dahlia, after she'd sent me birthday greetings via SMS. She thought it was funny, so I thought I might as well recycle the text here.

Just a year earlier, I was resigned to the fact that the "2" was going to make way for a "3". Overnight, I would be a thirty-something! What horror! It could be as traumatic as crossing the Great Rift Valley. But wait a minute...I HAD crossed the Rift Valley exactly a month and a day ago (15th Aug) in the plains of Kenya and it wasn't ominous at all. In fact, it was awesome! While bobbing along in our mini bus (and boy did our driver have the makings of an F1 driver; I didn't ask but per chance his surname was "Schumacher"), look right and you see zebras (go figure if it was white on black or black on white!), look left and you see a man draped with red cloth slung off shoulder on one side - the signature dress of the nomads of the Masai tribe. So when they talk about zebra crossings in Kenya, they're the real thing! Our driver slammed on his brakes on our return leg to Nairobi when a herd of them decided to break into a run across the narrow two-lane highway. ZEBRA(s) CROSSING!!! Screech.......

Gee! How did I end up in Kenya again?! Pardon me while I get back on track. Yes...where was I? Oh yes, turning the big three-o! I'd lost count how old I was turning this year and somehow, I had miscalculated and thought I would be 32 this year until my best friend (yes you Jas!) sent me an SMS from Sydney wishing me "Happy 31st Birthday!" Good golly! Some people forget their birthdays and that's excusable. I forget my age, now that's appalling!

Life's been great; not my doing of course. God has just watched over me like any hen would her chicks. Yes, He covers me under His wings and I am "Forever In His Care" (the title of a track by Point of Grace). As you grow older, do you find there's less reason to celebrate? I thought so. But turning "31" seven days ago was great! Perhaps it's only at birthdays that you realise the marvellous friends you have who remember your special day. The greetings at work and those who sent me an SMS or gave me a call. The birthday lunch treat (thanks Pam & Masha - that was alot of fish & chips! yes, take Gerry there!), the cake you baked that I never saw nor ate (thanks Chris!), those small blues creatures you got me (thanks Jas!), the specially put together one-of-a-kind CD compilation (thanks 'babe'!), the cool polo just fab for my tennis (thanks CFC!) and the angpow you hurriedly packed at the wedding (the usual suspects at Unicell!). Every greeting and gift was precious, but more importantly, they represented friends who mean alot to me. So if I may borrow a line from the sitcom, The Golden Girls, "Thank you for being a friend!"

So if I'm 31 this year, I'm 32 next year right? Woohoo!!!