Turning 22

It was only this year that I did not excitedly anticipate for my birthday. In the past (even as recent as last year), I was excited when the month of December came. I was excited about greetings, gifts, and surprises. This year, I did not feel the same sentiments. But to my surprise, my birthday this year turned out to be a memorable one.


It was an ordinary Tuesday at school, except for the fact that it was assessment day. That meant that I would not be seeing all of my pupils that day, only four of them. I felt quite sad that I was not able to celebrate my birthday in class, with my pupils, in my first year of teaching.


As usual, greetings started to come through text messages. Upon arriving in school, I went to our classroom and found my co-teacher painting. She said I should have arrived a bit later, because she was not able to surprise me. Oh, my early arrival was quite a disadvantage that day! She was planning to post a greeting on our classroom door.

Greeting from Teacher Joanna :)

During the afternoon, I had a tutorial session with my tutee, Hannah Joy. For a while, I left her with something to work on. Guess what? She did not work on the reviewer I asked her to answer. I found her doing something in my laptop. And suddenly she called me and asked for the correct spelling of my name. Guess what she was doing? This:

Hannah Joy's birthday message for me :)

After a while, Manong Jo was looking for me because there was a flower delivery for me! But I did not get excited because this happened already; flowers were also sent for me during Teachers' Day in October. Written on the card was: "Wala ka pa ring love life. Si Ate pa rin ito." The flowers were from my sister. How sweet. :)

Thanks for the flowers, Atse!

Came dinner time, I met with my close church friends and my niece. The "tradition" lived on; there was a cake and balloons for me! :)  Thanks sisters!

Balloons and smiley cake :)

And oh, I won't forget how I remembered that my birthday was coming. Three days before December 6, I was in a churchmate's house conducting a Bible study among children. Before we parted ways, one of the children approached me and gave me something. "Advanced happy birthday, Teacher!" She handed a gift to me. My heart just melted. :)

Aww, heart-melting, isn't it?

There was a letter inside! It's even more heart-melting.

How touching! :)

Turning 22, I had a lot of realizations. I am very grateful for another year of grace that passed. Thank you, Lord. :)