So there I am, in my lovely room, with my new computer and my books and arts&crafts stuff surrounding me...and a lame arm. Well, lame-ish :p There go my plans for venturing out to see Enkhuizen and get all my stuff done, like applying for Social Services.
And of course: my birthday is coming close too: the Big Five Oh! It's on a Monday this year so I know the kids are all off work and they promised they'd come. And, big surprise: Willem -my stepdad- and my little sister Nienke are coming too! Willem sent me an e-mail saying they wanna come by to congratulate me or offer their condolences on 'meeting Sarah' :') ('meeting Sarah' or 'meeting Abraham' is a Dutch thing when you turn 50, and refers to the biblical Abraham and his wife Sarah. The custom stems from verse 57 where the Jews sarcastically tell Jesus,
“You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham!”)
Usually a big lifesize doll is placed in front of the house to mark the event but since I've been saying I'll just turn 49 for the second time and miraculously turn 51 next year... I guess that saved me from that ;) Andrea and her friend Yvonne were teasing me relentlessly though in the days before. And Andrea's sons didn't make it much better because they warned me to brace myself because they know those ladies and what they can do ;)
But midnight arrives and we're sitting in the living room. Suddenly they get up and bring me a big, beautiful box. With the warning of Alwyn and Raynor in mind I expect anything can happen so I open the box pointing away from me, scared of stuff 'jumping' out of it. But...it is filled with loads of individually packed little pink glacé cakes 'the real ones from Enkhuizen' :) (I must have mentioned I LOVE pink glacé cakes, haha!)
And after that lovely surprise I get a beautifully wrapped black basket filled to the brim with...pink stuff! Soap roses, foaming bath salt, a shower puff, a pink dotted fan, razors and shaving cream, (for my legs of course, dôh) shower gel and deodorant...all nice things! Recurrent theme was pink and polkadots :)
The day of my birthday itself was lovely too. Willem and Nienke were gonna be here in the late morning, we were going to lunch together so I had a table reserved at a very nice restaurant here in town, with some difficulty because it was 'Lappendag' or 'rag day' in Enkhuizen, that is the last day of the big yearly fair and that means the whole old centre is one big market.
So we had a nice lunch and a walk through the old centre afterwards. Willem knows Enkhuizen quite well, much to the surprise of me and Nienke. We had a drink at the canal near the 'Drom', a historical landmark. And after that another walk back to the car. Alas it was time to go home for Nienke but Willem wanted to see little Layla and had some prezzies for her.
A little later in the afternoon my kids, kid-in-law and grandbaby arrived and Yvonne came back too. Willem got to see his step-greatgrandchild ;) It was really nice to see everyone chat and get along, Andrea and Yvonne were talking with Willem outside and told me later they think he's a really charming man :)
But it was time to start dinner...Andrea's sons and daughter in law were coming too and we made roasted chickens and potatoes and salad, and fruitsalad and icecream for dessert. I was so happy to see all those kids eating and talking and having fun together! So for me that was a perfect birthday!!!
Long story again and still not done...I'll just save the rest for next time :)
Have a great day y'all!
Hugz, Anna
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