On the morning of 17 August 2018, I woke up to my alarm clock (yes, working on my birthday) and turned off my flight mode.
Messages sent past midnight started coming in and I couldn’t help but smile groggily while reading my birthday greetings. (Especially loving those funny GIFs! 😄 Thanks, guys.)
Fun Fact: 17 August is also Indonesia’s birthday (National Day). 🇮🇩 As my Indonesian friends always love to remind me. 😬
And the whole day was just sweet. 🤗
Which was what I really needed; it was like the universe knew my heart took a bad beating recently (my closest friends would know), so it decided to cut me some slack on my birthday. 🎈
And I’m thankful for all these little gifts I received yesterday ❤️:
1. Getting stuck at the train station in the morning
It’s not entirely sheltered from the train station to my office building, so when it started to pour heavily – I was pretty much stuck. (No, I don’t have a portable umbrella.)
So I was sitting on a bench, waiting it out.
Then the old security guard that I’ve greeted a few times came up to me and said, “Wow, you’re even prettier today!!”
Must be the birthday glow~ ☺️ Hahahaha!
Then a total stranger sat on the empty spot next to me and struck up a conversation. We somehow broke into a discussion about humans as a species while we waited for the rain to let up.
Time practically flew by and before we both parted ways, we shook hands and he said the sweetest thing, “Smart, funny and beautiful. You’re the whole package.”
Felt awesomely complimented! Haha.
2. Flowery surprise waiting at my desk!
Had a bouquet of red roses, a card and ‘Happy Birthday’ balloon waiting at my desk when I walked in! 😍😍
I crazy love receiving fresh flowers! And the roses were even accompanied with white baby breaths. ☺️☺️☺️
And the contents of the card were super adorable.
3. Company shirts!
On Fridays, many of us show up in our company shirt. And yesterday was the first time I wore mine! 🤗
Look at us each wearing the different designs! 😍 
As much as I don’t want to have a uniform – it’s nice that we show up once in a while with matching clothes! Had this sense of bond. ☺️
4. We had mini CAKES!!
I was so incredibly touched because this HR lady is new and she was already swamped with other things… but she still wanted to make a celebration happen for the August babies!
For such occasions in the office, always thought cupcakes were more practical. Saved the hassle of having to cut up into slices and a variety of flavours available! 🤗
Simply loved it! 🎂
5. Handwritten cards 💘
If there’s just one thing I’m a huuuuuge sucker for – it won’t be chocolates or macaroons. It’ll definitely be handwritten cards/letters. 😍
So when they whipped out birthday cards that were signed by people in the office, I was very touched!
One for each August baby! ✌🏻
6. Amazing mystery dinner!
Just knew I had to leave at 6PM sharp – but had no clue on where I was going to be taken…
Then at about 6:30PM, was served up an amazing steak meal at Lawry’s! 🤩 Yummy-yum-yum.
Was looking lustfully at the rack of meat while the chef carved it in front of us… 😏
And another round of cake served by waitresses singing the birthday song (quite loudly too, might I add).
7. Endless happy greetings 🙂
Y’know what’s the best thing I’ve found living this life?
That through my one, solitary life – I’ve become a part of so many other lives. All the above that happened yesterday were really awesome and made me genuinely happy.
But in between all that, I received messages from people I’ve had the privilege of meeting thus far – and alongside reminding me I’m getting older… they also reminded me of the happy memories we’ll always have.
The funny thing about good times is that you don’t realise it till they’re over.
And that’s entirely okay.
Because you were supposed to be too busy living through the good times anyway.
And you’ll always have those good times. They’ll be the pillars of strength you hold onto when your world gets a little shaky and you start wondering what’s all this good for.
They’ll be little episodes that you keep on rerun when the ‘live’ streaming gets too horrible. They’ll be escape rooms your mind can take refuge and find solace in knowing that there’s something as happy as this in our world.
…for there’s no greater gift in this life, than something that genuinely makes you happy. 😊
XOXO, G.
Gera Shen 