Today is my birthday!

My hubby had been asking me what I wanted for my special day since a few days before. Honestly, I didn’t know what I want. I already had enough blessings in life. So I didn’t ask him anything, and I didn’t even ask him to take me out for dinner. Instead, he offered to cook our favourite Malay dish, nasi lemak (rice cooked with coconut milk and served with fried chicken, anchovies, peanuts, egg, cucumber and special chili sauce/sambal). To my surprise, he was serious in celebrating my birthday at home that he came back home early from the office just to cook our dinner (he told this to his office mates who thought he would take me out for dinner!) This is probably the first time that we live together for a long time that we are able to celebrate my birthday — in the past we lived separately as he was working in the other part of the world.

The dinner was fantastic. The chili sauce was cooked to almost perfection (to our liking!) and we had a 2008 Shiraz from a boutique winery in Victoria to accompany our meal. Shortly afterwards I start to reflect on what is happening, and I realise that despite the fact that I am a year older than yesterday, a few fine lines on my face, and still have some dreams yet to be fulfilled, I am stronger and a lot happier. Seriously. Both my husband and I are still very healthy despite our ages — as a good comparison my cousin who’s about 10 years younger than me already has high blood pressure and other degenerative diseases. My dear husband and I still can enjoy our life together, doing what we feel like doing without any health restriction. I also feel happy despite a few setbacks in life — and I think it’s because I feel loved by my better half, with all my shortcomings. Thank you, my dearest husband, for your love and for the beautiful dinner date at home.