I have these friends who helped celebrate my birthday in the most delicious ways ...
You see, today the postman asked to be buzzed up with a parcel.
He had a gift from Veronica and somehow, that woman always manages to find gifts that both delight me with their aesthetic beauty while encouraging me to go on with the life I seem intent on choosing and sometimes suffer massive doubts about ...
The gift's arrival was timely because ... there are 6 of us in the apartment today. Jessie is ill and 'we' together generate endless dishes that require washing and drying, messes that need vacuumed, bellies that need filled meanwhile I'm working on NGO work as well as trying to file the Italian series of interviews and photographs so that I can pick them up and go on with them ... as soon as I have created that new office space in my bedroom.
This gift will sit someplace on my desk I imagine, to remind me of journeys yet to be made.
And then there is Paola, who took me out for the most delicious birthday dinner before she left Genova. We went to Ristorante da Rina, a lovely experience from beginning to end.
We walked through narrow streets that were new to me back then, until we found the restaurant perched on the side of a hill above Genova's port area.
Paola translated, advising me on on this dish and that and the white wine accompaniment was delicious. It was a lovely night out which ended with laughter, as we wandered lost for a while in the complicated alleyways that make up the heart of the old city in Genova.
Thank you to both of you. You made this older woman's birthday really special.
I left New Zealand mid-2003, bound for Istanbul and a new lif. After two years, a Belgian guy lured me into his world, deep in the heart of Europe. For a long time I was an in-process immigrant. One day we married. These days it's about photography, a little red wine and wandering ... and so the journey goes.
You have amazing friends Di, a gift worth treasuring.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will find the time to meet me again for coffee when the hectic days are over.
All the best,
Peter (your Antwerp neighbour who did not forget your birthday while you were in Italy ;-)
My friends are treasure, Peter :) all of them.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to catching up with you soon - either Friday or Monday, we'll email, as I'm working in Brussels tomorrow :)
You know, I'm more surprised when people remember my birthday than if they forget, simply because it's always been a grouchy kind of day for me. I think I must have been born of a difficult birth experience and I have bad unconsicous memories of it all ;)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
ReplyDeleteOh Gary, I misrepresented the news ... my birthday was back on 22/10
ReplyDeleteBut happy new president to you!!!!!!!!!! It was so nice to wake up to the news this morning.
What a wonderful gift! I've always secretly thought the best friends are those who give the best gifts ];-)
ReplyDeleteI suspect so ... usually they like us better than family :) Probably because they don't live with me ... eh wot.
ReplyDeleteAnyway I love it, it has a catch and it opens and has more cuteness inside.
as soon as i saw that wee little box in an art gallery, i thought of you, my wandering friend. when i realized the map snippets were from new zealand, i knew that i was meant to discover that box and you were meant to own it. a matter of destiny and following where the heart leads. yes!
ReplyDeletethe photo is lovely. you must sent me a copy of it so i can post it in my studio and we can share the inspiration...
XO
I'll send it after replying here, V. Thank you, you really made a bad day a wee bit smiley and it's one of those things that tempts you to pick it up and play with it while you think ...
ReplyDeletexo