I will start off this post by saying: Wow. Happy birthday to me indeed. I had the most wonderful time with my beloved A and my little hamster (who preferred to rather sleep than celebrate with us). We were treated with tons of sunshine, which in Oslo, we came to realize, is kind of like a minor miracle. As you notice, this post is a bit different from the other ones, instead of going on and on, about how wonderful A is, you can just check it out for yourself:
Arose from sea to sea and land to land
A love that spanned the continental drift
Both holding on to one another’s hand
A love with power deep and current swift
In flight the bird looked down from up above
In waters clear the fish took up its gaze
And both knew soon that this was surely love
That would endure and last beyond a phase
They made a home somewhere beyond the sea
A land where fish could swim and birds could fly
A place they both now live so happily
With waters blue and paired with bluer sky
In future’s near and far they’ll no doubt roam
But where their love will always be their home
Yes, this is what I got from A for my 24th birthday (also the first one we were able to physically celebrate together) An old bicycle wheel, with some pictures of us, but most of them were taken at various aquariums we have been to over the last three years and a poem about a bird and a fish, finally being able to live together, written on the backside of various pictures that were taken in the past 9 months (ever since we moved to Oslo).
Every single day, when I stand before it, my heart melts, it’s such a simple gift but it makes me happy, because A put his heart and soul into the presents. On my special day, he made all my birthday dreams come true, he made me chocolate chip pancakes, cooked me an awesome Schnitzel-dinner AND baked me a wonderful double-decker chocolate cake (as I write this, I am finally finishing off the last most delicious piece… yumm…-y).
A didn’t have an easy job though, for my very first birthday together (but not really, since he couldn’t be there for the actual day but he came to visit me a few days later) he gave me a wonderful heart-shaped locket, that I wear every day. When I meet new people, they often notice it and they ask if they could see what was in it and I gladly show them: one of the first pictures of A and me together in DC at the Cherry Blossom Festival.
A year later A sent me (since I was living in Austria and he was back in Philadelphia) a huge box a few days before my big day. The box was sitting on my desk for days until I could finally open it. I tried very hard to figure out, what was in it but even bugging A about it, he wouldn’t tell me. The worst part though was, having to deal with the 6-hour-time difference on my birthday. I was anxiously waiting for A to get up, so we ‘could open the present together’ (thank you skype btw). I found a build-a-bear-teddy-bear with A’s voice, singing ‘My girl’ in the box and some wonderful earrings, that matched my heart-locket and of course, some chocolate. No birthday present without chocolate 😉
Last year, A treated me to the book of love. So yes, A manages to outdo himself every single year and I don’t know how he does it, but he does it with much secrecy, my well-being on his mind and with so much love, that in the end, all I can do, to show my appreciation to him, for loving me and my birthday so much (sometimes I believe he loves my birthday much more than I do…), is sit back, eat my chocolate cake and stare at the wheel of love…
A bird loves a fish 