In September we, my sister and I, spent a long weekend with the family in our family “country cottage” in beautiful Mechelen.
Mechelen is a picturesque little city down south in the Province of Limburg where we will celebrate our birthdays (my sister and I we were born on the same day but no the same year) together. It was the first time in 5 years that we decided to be in the same country to celebrate our birthdays. After a detour, a forced pre-birthday gift to show me the countryside I have missed for such a long time, I have a very creative family, we finally arrived in Mechelen (with CH).
Mechelen is a picturesque little city down south in the Province of Limburg where we will celebrate our birthdays (my sister and I we were born on the same day but no the same year) together. It was the first time in 5 years that we decided to be in the same country to celebrate our birthdays. After a detour, a forced pre-birthday gift to show me the countryside I have missed for such a long time, I have a very creative family, we finally arrived in Mechelen (with CH).
My family was excited and at the same time an underneath emotion was waiting like a Jack in the box. The absence of my first of sisters was tangible. Especially for my brothers and sisters because they’ve spent the weekend before she passed away in the same cottage. It would be the first time after her departure that the family would spend time together as such. Me, I was sad and missing her immensely.
The summer almost reached its end but the weather was warm for the time of the year. The outdoor café’s was fully occupied until the midnight hours and we shopped until we dropped. The weekend was great and so is the family. My family has the ability to freak you out with their strong personalities and make you laugh until you cannot stand on your two feet. We stayed up until late, playing our favo games (hmpffff…..), sharing food and wine, watching Sumo wrestling together and of course heated discussions as we always do when we’re around each other.
The summer almost reached its end but the weather was warm for the time of the year. The outdoor café’s was fully occupied until the midnight hours and we shopped until we dropped. The weekend was great and so is the family. My family has the ability to freak you out with their strong personalities and make you laugh until you cannot stand on your two feet. We stayed up until late, playing our favo games (hmpffff…..), sharing food and wine, watching Sumo wrestling together and of course heated discussions as we always do when we’re around each other.
On my birthday at midnight I found myself sulking under the walnut tree in the backyard when everyone came and wished me and my sister Happy Birthday. By the way she was not sulking under the walnut tree. I always feel uncomfortable when everyone is wishing me happy birthday. In this setting it was mixed emotions that contributed to my bad birthday mood. Another year added and other things running through my head.
That night I went to bed early but woke up later that night when everyone was vast asleep. I sneaked downstairs and find the living room decorated with balloons and ribbons. So sweet, they even found balloons with Happy Birthday written in Indonesian and in the Happy Birthday garland the leg of the R in Birthday was missing.
HAPPY BIPTHDAY….. so cute!
Looked for the "bipthday" presents but could not find it. I went back to bed, woke up in the morning and needed to control my laughter and act surprisingly surprised. Okay it didn’t work out that well. It’s hard to keep a straight face when you see Happy Bipthday in the early morning.
Our birthday present contains a book about New York City and hard cash to spent on shopping, resto’s and other indulging activities we planned to do. New York City was the next destination in our celebration program. It’s our first time in New York and its fun to play Chris Columbus in NYC together.
Thanks for the Bipthday weekend.
