Tomorrow is my B-day. 44 years on this planet of ours. My mum and dad and then the rest of the Ferreira-clan made birthdays a very special day. We always started the day with a ‘birthday surprise’ which was of course not a surprise at all, because you knew full well, whilst pretending to be asleep, that there were many people in the kitchen, preparing your most special meal. It was always exciting and then came the phone calls from all the aunts, uncles and lovely grandparents… So, needless to say, we were always late for school on our birthdays, which included my 2 sisters and brother too! These ‘being late for school’ days were quite legit and those were the only times when we were not stressed about being late, even dad managed to chill…
Every year my super mum had 4 spectacular creations to make… The Birthday Cakes for her 4 children. She made one very big mistake though – you could choose whatever you wanted for the cake! And, she never ever failed. I remember sitting on the kitchen bench next to mum, very late one night, putting on the last bits of decorations for one cake or other. I remember dad popping in to ask ‘how much longer to go, because it already looks perfect?’ only for mum to shout ‘go to bed, I am nearly finished’. I remember the different cakes; an owl, a shoe-house, a spider, an octopus, a tree-house, sunflowers, battleships, farms… And now, with 9 grandchildren, all girls and including two sets of twins, I bet she might be decorating for a while… that adds up to 7 creations per year. Enjoy grandma. Fondest memories.
I am reminded of how much love and friendship there is in my life on my birthdays. I am reminded of how much my family, friends, colleagues and clients mean to me. My life would be pretty empty without these special people in my life and I am grateful to be reminded every year to look after my family and my friends and to continue to work to keep the love and joy in my life alive.
Thank you for all of you that make me feel so special and for giving me such a sense of belonging. It warms me from the inside out. I also apologise for being so useless in remembering dates and it is so important to me to add some specialness to your special day, so be bold, like so many of my friends… and just say PS! It’s my B-day.
To Alexa and Holly; wishing you both a stupendous B-day! Geminis ROCK…(😊)
So, changing the subject slightly, I want to get something off my chest, something not so nice… I want to poop in my pants every time I hear and read the saying ‘the new norm’… I mean what the hell is that? I just think the ‘brainwashing’ – how we start to consume and speak the same verbs and sentences so quickly and so radically because it’s pushed down our throats from all sources in such huge volumes – makes me feel a bit sick. It is a bit like an over-thick, very sweet milkshake and you should really have stopped after 4 sips, yet you carried on and finished the whole lot, feeling bloated and sick, it is just all too much.
There is no such thing as ‘normal’ to start with, so how is it possible to have ‘the new norm’?
I am sorry, perhaps it is only me, and you do find it quite normal, however I just needed to throw a hissy-fit before I turn 44!
We can start a new #squashthenewnormal campaign and perhaps change it to #everydayisadifferentday
xx
