Twenty What?

Twenty What?

carla.ornelas@gmail.com

I could swear that just yesterday I went to bed at sixteen and suddenly this morning I woke up and my ID tells me that I’m twenty three.

What happened to all the time in between?!!!

I recall thinking that it would take an eternity to reach eighteen and then one day I woke up and I was already nineteen. All I did was blink my eyes and the next thing I knew I was being told that I was twenty one so imagine my shock when today I congratulated my mother for that final push twenty three years ago that announced my arrival into the world.

It isn’t the fact that I’m getting older that bugs me. I don’t feel any older and my intellectual growth isn’t affected. Wisdom cannot be measured by years gone by.
However, it’s the fact that I’m not getting any younger that really tickles my melon!
If I could have it my way, we would’ve all gone through human development backwards! Dying would be first so you could get that over and done with, then you take advantage of retirement to take the time to appreciate the stuff you never get round to appreciating while you were working. Working to pay your college tuition, you begin varsity with the clear knowledge that the studying will only get easier and eventually it will be all play in preschool. Finally when you’re done running around in diapers, you suck your thumb and end it all off in a magnificent orgasm!

Whilst most people hate being reminded of their date of birth... I can’t deny that I absolutely love it! Four phone calls from South Africa, two from England, one from Australia and over 50 text messages makes you feel amazingly special. The fact that someone remembers you on your birthday tells you that you hold a special place in their thoughts, if not their hearts. It’s the most rewarding feelings that a person can experience.

You stop getting great presents somewhere after twenty... people suddenly assume that you’re an adult and they no longer possess the imagination to get you a cool yo-yo or that soft squishy thing that you can play with… don’t they know that teddies are classics!
However... there are those that know how to overwhelm you! My jaw dropped when three BEAUTIFUL bouquets of flowers got delivered to my office. When I was younger, I could never quite grab the concept in the joy of receiving something that would die in a couple of days... I guess time certainly did well on correcting that concept.
To receive a bouquet of flowers is to know that someone thought of you with so much care and tenderness that they carefully picked out something beautiful to combine with their thought of you... it is one of the highest compliments you can pay a woman.

Tulips were chosen by my most courageous friend whose care and friendship knows no limits. Their delicate nature and bright colours reminded me of her strength and her promise of an honest friendship that I can always rely on.
The second bouquet was an armful of red and white carnations. In between you could find daisies and strings of pearls decorating the most overwhelming bouquet of flowers I’d ever seen. Flabbergasted, I was flattered by the wonderful gesture which managed to capture my attention with its bold statement.
The third bouquet is the one that withdrew most of the comments. Someone who knows me very well couldn’t resist stating that whoever had sent it knew me best. Perhaps it was because it held perfect white roses, my favourite of all flowers! Slightly closed, but open enough to guess their beauty, the white roses were surrounded by pink roses and guarded by three massive sunflowers. However, what gave away the fact that this person knew me well was the beautiful blue butterfly that accompanied the bouquet for decoration. I couldn’t hide my smile that stretched from ear to ear when I got them. At times, you feel that no matter how much you express yourself, the world cannot see you. It is at times like these when someone sends you a symbol of how they see you that makes you realize that they’ve paid attention. Being told later that every detail including the blue glitter sparkled over the roses had been thought of, you realize how special your friends are and how at moments like these, they’re still able to surprise you!

Candles, a vase, books and Cd’s... this year I was simply spoilt! I would’ve been happy with the simple fact that people remembered me on this special day but I cannot help but confess that their gifts were a clear indication of how well they know me! Each and every gift that I got was something that I would’ve picked out myself! Being content with whatever I get, and not ever having to hint... my dearest and closest friends surprised me with the gifts that said “I know the real you”.

Celebrating with Chocolate!

What better way to start off a new year than to try something you’ve never attempted before. To celebrate my twenty three candles, I decided to bake a cake worthy of upholding them! And not just any cake from Grandma’s recipe book... a chocolate cake! The kind we crave to take us to heaven and back!
Do you know that Google has 1.160.000 websites available on the search for “chocolate cake recipe’s”… and here I thought “sex” was popular!
After finding the perfect recipe, shopping for the ingredients and promising myself a diet, I decided to take advice from the wise by facing baking the same way I face life: with reckless abandon! To the sounds of Def Leopard and Bon Jovi, I whisked, mixed and beat the life into my cake! Adventuring a little off the recipe, I decided to cut a bit on the sugar and add almonds and vanilla essence as my special touch… soon I began wondering if I shouldn’t have just stuck to the original recipe!... Somewhere in between I confess that I began worrying about its future. Maybe it was the fact that I didn’t have to beat the egg whites like with other cakes, or the fact that a chocolate milkshake was thicker that the batter I had made… the fact is that I began thinking that my awesome idea would turn out to be an awesome flop!
I’ve decided that cake can only be a feminine identity… if you want to see what she’s really made of; you’ve got to turn up the heat! Within the high temperatures of my oven, I watched my cake grow into something that resembled the picture I had seen on the website. I almost couldn’t believe that it had come out that good! After I’d frosted and decorated it, I was almost sorry that it eventually would be eaten! If I don’t achieve any other accomplishments within the next 364 days, at least I can say that at twenty three, I baked the perfect chocolate cake!

Gifts, messages, calls and cakes aside... what made the day most special was the fact that I share my birthday with a person that I deeply love and admire. The day which my cousin and I celebrate our existence couldn’t be better spent than with each other! Watching her leave right after a game of Trivial pursuit where her boyfriend kicked both our asses (of course we helped and he cheated, hehehe)... I had the pleasure of realizing that there was no better way to have celebrated my birthday and if the next one is this good, then getting older is not so bad after all.