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my best birthday ever

after much thought and consideration, i finally decided to join ghee's birthday contest (as she's celebrating her own birthday this month) so i can have a chance at winning her rirakkuma (yes, i'm an adult and i adore san-x! got a problem with that? haha) plushie, which would make perfect company for my afro ken and kogepan plushies (both salvaged at thrift stores--"ukay-ukay"--in cubao).



the lucky winner gets to choose one of these three toys as the prize. (photo by ghee) i have my eyes set on the king rirakkuma one!

her contest requires me to share my "best birthday" memory. i should really put "my best birthday YET" in the title, but i must follow rules. i confess that i already concede to one of the contestants, vanidosa, a barangay captain who celebrated her golden birthday with her entire constituents. how can anyone beat that?

Rules:

1)Write an article, short or long, it doesn`t matter, entitled “My Best Birthday Ever”.
It could be about the present that you had received. It could be romantic, funny, touching/dramatic, thrilling, kinky(hehe) stories or what so ever! Anything will do.Write them in a language that you are comfortable with,as long as we can translate it through the help of babels or any translation sites.

2) Please put this pic above the post as a virtual kiss for you!Thank you in advance for posting.Muah!

A Kiss For You!!

3)Link your posts here then let me know if you`re done by leaving me a comment.

http://www.akoni.info/?p=660

********
so anyway, here goes:

milestone birthdays are always memorable. after turning 18, the birthdays that followed seemed like a blur. for filipino girls (unlike here in the states where it's the "sweet sixteen" that matters), turning 18 is a big deal, and i was lucky to have experienced this whole debutante thing as a young lady (then! haha) in the philippines.

my family lived in a small, duplex-style apartment in pasig at the time before the floodings eventually evicted us to higher ground in novaliches. most of my childhood was spent in this three-bedroom apartment while our mother spent most of our growing-up years toiling away in the middle east, then finally, new jersey.

me being the eldest daughter, my parents decided to throw me a special 18th birthday party. why was it so special? my mom flew home from new jersey for this event, bearing little hats turned into birthday favors made by a crafty aunt (also in new jersey) who couldn't make it to my party. the hats had pink ribbons on it that bore my name and my birthday.

speaking of pink, my mom brought me a pink lacy gown to wear for my party! haha. how many times does a girl get to wear a gown for herself (and not for someone else's wedding or a school dance or a costume party) in her lifetime? (unless you're a celebrity, maybe) i can only think of the other instance being her own wedding (unless it's the civil-type). this was a coming-of-age party, so what better way to usher in womanhood than by wearing pink, right? and i had a corsage with orchids on my left hand!

the party was just in our small apartment, but all of my relatives and neighbors that were close to my heart were present. my party wasn't as extravagant as you might imagine, but my pink gown, goldilocks cake with pink icing (and a girl figurine standing on top of a stairway), lechon, home-made food and most of all--my family, made it just perfectly priceless. i mean, even if you took away all the pinkness and left me with just the food (haha) and my family and guests, i would have felt like a princess nonetheless!

i did have my "18 roses" dance...but i ran out of males to dance with me so some cousins and uncles got to dance a second time with me just to complete the ritual, haha.

i looked at my old photo album for this precious birthday moment and saw all the love that surrounded me that day. in every photo with me in it, there was a glow to my smile--not from my pink gown, but from the genuine happiness that i felt.

there were two grandmothers in the photos who have both passed away, one of whom was very dear to my heart and whose funeral i attended just last december in the philippines. i just got teary-eyed remembering how she helped rear me during my childhood.

and so this is my "pretty in pink" birthday memory...a special milestone in my life. it's a little embarrassing sharing something this personal, but that king rirakkuma is beckoning me. haha! (is there a consolation prize?:P)

happy birthday, ghee! :)

10 vandalized my wall:

Marites said...

wow! all the works for the debutante birthday for you. I never had that. It must have been so exciting.

Btw, I got for you here

Anonymous said...

awww,Fairy,thank you so much for a very nice intro and touching entry.I almost felt the happiness plus the mellow,emo mode in the end..

great entry!!

i used to live in novaliches din,malapit sa bayan :)

i am an adult too,pero no one can stop me from loving rirakkuma and other kinds of stuffed toys,haha!

so you want king rirakkuma pala?abangan mo na lang! :D

hontouni arigatou gozaimasu!!!

ms firefly said...

that's a nice memory!!!
i would love to wear a pink gown too, it sounds so magical to me. i didn't have the usual debut party but i had all my favorite friends over in our house after our class, and i can only remember my parents were shocked i had friends over so they quickly bought lots of lechon manok and ice cream! hehe
we had lots of pictures too, and it's nice to look back on it. :)

Sidney said...

Indeed... a birthday to remember for the rest of your life...
Too bad that time is going by so fast !

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday! (joke!) hihihi
You must really love king rirakkuma that much huh? hmmm...i'll pray you'll win faery. if not, i'll pray someone will give you one. who knows dba? valentines is around the corner...hihihi

shiera (bisdakbabbles) said...

I also wore something girlie on my 18th birthday!

fortuitous faery said...

marites: thanks for the award!

ghee: thanks! i used to live in lagro...conveniently near sm fairview! haha.

msfirefly: ambush party! that sounds cool! i miss lechon manok...haha.

sidney: true, so that's why we should enjoy every second of it.

doi: ahaha...there's no japanese store in my neighborhood! thanks for the moral support!

shiera: fun times! :)

Anonymous said...

your mom went home just to attend your 18th birthday? that's so touching.

Anonymous said...

really?Lagro was a nice place,as I recall :)

By the way,sorry for a bit late update bout the contest.It`s finally done and you can check it out gurl!

and hey,thanx for sharing my Bday horoscope.you made me smile when I read it. :)

Anonymous said...

It was exactly memorable and touchy :)

Nice post :)
Btw, came dropping by from GHEE.

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