Twenty-Five
I turned 25 last week. I always thought it would be a momentous milestone. I remember making a list with some of my girl friends in high school of all the things that we wanted to do before we turned 25. I don't remember everything on the list, but I know that one of them was to scuba dive - check! I remember a couple others that I have not accomplished, like sky diving and bungee jumping.
In the months leading up to my birthday, I started to think that it might be fun to celebrate my birthday by doing something huge and memorable. I thought sky diving would be perfect since it was one of the things that I wanted to do before turning 25, but the sky diving season ends in October here. So then I looked into bungee jumping. I found a great place where I could do it, but no one wanted to take the leap with me. My brother said he would come watch, but it just didn't seem like it'd be much fun all by myself. Instead, I planned absolutely nothing, and decided to see what would happen.
It was an ordinary teaching day...... except that every class sang happy birthday to me. I heard it about 8 times, and by the end of the day, all the other teachers were sick of hearing it echoing down the halls!
One of the nice things about teaching older students is that they're quite capable. All on their own, they planned and organized a little party at lunch for me. One student brought a mousse cake. The rest all brought items to put into a big gift basket - it was filled with fruit, tea, chocolate, soap, and other little trinkets! I was delightfully surprised!!
A couple friends from church also showed up and surprised me with another cake! It was sweet for them to stop by!!
That evening after school and gymnastics practice, my brother picked me up and we went over to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner. That turned out to be another surprise - my parents drove out to help celebrate! (They knew that I was considering bungee jumping, so they figured that they should come in case it was the last time they'd get to see me!!) A couple other relatives and friends came over for dinner as well, and we all had a wonderful time eating delicious Indian food, playing theWii , and visiting together.
Mini birthday cupcakes
Make a wish!!
Opening cards and presents (that's my dad in the background!)
Playing with my buddy!
My cousin Elisa - she's in 6th grade at the school where I teach, so I have her in 3 of my classes. (We ended up staying over at my relatives house that night and I asked her, "Is it kinda strange to have a sleep over with your teacher?" and she replied, "No, cuz you're my cousin and only my teacher at school.")
Perhaps I didn't get to do all the things that I had wanted to do before 25, but I think I've done way more things than the average person gets to do before they turn 25. I still have plenty of time to go sky diving, bungee jumping, and all the other desires of my adventurous heart. Although it wasn't the climactic milestone that I imagined it to be, it was a day filled with surprises and I felt very loved by my students, friends, and family. All in all, it was very memorable!
In the months leading up to my birthday, I started to think that it might be fun to celebrate my birthday by doing something huge and memorable. I thought sky diving would be perfect since it was one of the things that I wanted to do before turning 25, but the sky diving season ends in October here. So then I looked into bungee jumping. I found a great place where I could do it, but no one wanted to take the leap with me. My brother said he would come watch, but it just didn't seem like it'd be much fun all by myself. Instead, I planned absolutely nothing, and decided to see what would happen.
It was an ordinary teaching day...... except that every class sang happy birthday to me. I heard it about 8 times, and by the end of the day, all the other teachers were sick of hearing it echoing down the halls!
One of the nice things about teaching older students is that they're quite capable. All on their own, they planned and organized a little party at lunch for me. One student brought a mousse cake. The rest all brought items to put into a big gift basket - it was filled with fruit, tea, chocolate, soap, and other little trinkets! I was delightfully surprised!!
A couple friends from church also showed up and surprised me with another cake! It was sweet for them to stop by!!
That evening after school and gymnastics practice, my brother picked me up and we went over to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner. That turned out to be another surprise - my parents drove out to help celebrate! (They knew that I was considering bungee jumping, so they figured that they should come in case it was the last time they'd get to see me!!) A couple other relatives and friends came over for dinner as well, and we all had a wonderful time eating delicious Indian food, playing the
My little Serbian, upstairs neighbor (the son of my brother's associate pastor), enjoying the party food.
Mini birthday cupcakes
Make a wish!!
Opening cards and presents (that's my dad in the background!)
Playing with my buddy!
My cousin Elisa - she's in 6th grade at the school where I teach, so I have her in 3 of my classes. (We ended up staying over at my relatives house that night and I asked her, "Is it kinda strange to have a sleep over with your teacher?" and she replied, "No, cuz you're my cousin and only my teacher at school.")
Perhaps I didn't get to do all the things that I had wanted to do before 25, but I think I've done way more things than the average person gets to do before they turn 25. I still have plenty of time to go sky diving, bungee jumping, and all the other desires of my adventurous heart. Although it wasn't the climactic milestone that I imagined it to be, it was a day filled with surprises and I felt very loved by my students, friends, and family. All in all, it was very memorable!
Comments
I'm glad your day was full of the very best things in life--friendship and family. Sounds like it was sight better than 23 was. . .though the ice cream was pretty good, huh. . .:) See you soon!