On my 40th birthday, Alan came up with what has become known within our family as the Happy Birthday Week celebrations. It does not matter which day of the week our birthdays fall on, celebrations begin on the Saturday morning before and go through the entire week until the following Sunday night. It is a wonderful thing to be so completely celebrated and loved. When I say this to people, often the reaction I get is something along the lines of - doesn’t it get expensive and tiring having to celebrate for a week? Sadly, I think they have missed the point.This year Alan began indulging me with attention as soon as he got home from work on Friday afternoon. For a start, he did the simplest thing – he changed into an outfit he knows I just love because it makes him look and feel very cuddly. Then we sat down with steaming hot cups of tea and made plans for the weekend.
I have loved every moment of my Happy Birthday Week celebrations so far, and I am sure it was not calculated on both our parts, but somehow it has been a fusion mini-version of the things we (ab) normally get ourselves into while we are on holidays. For those of you who have journeyed with us and read the 42 travel blogs from The Travelling Story of Two Small Children Part 3 … I think you will get the picture.
There are too many stories to tell since Friday, for we always pack a lot in, so I will pick one. On Saturday, after a fun-filled-people-watching type breakfast and our recurring need to perform the obligatory stroll through Ikea, Alan took me to a rug shop run by three Afghani brothers all of whom had beautiful tiger eyes. More than just light brown with touches of green … many people from that region of the world have eyes with golden yellow hues and feathery long lashes that Alan and I will always comment about to each other after having such an encounter – it was no different this time.We had a lovely and easy chat with them, to the point I was beginning to wonder when the eldest was going to take out the family album. He spoke of how they had come to Australia when they were boys and how their father had recently returned to visit family. Then Alan asked if they were from Kandahar - I froze for a moment because firstly Afghanistan is more than just Kandahar and secondly, I know Alan ... and hoped he would not ask them if they were kite runners when they little. (The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is one of our favourite books.) I glanced over at him and could see he was thinking about it! It tickled me and I felt deeply happy, it was definitely a Travelling Story moment. We could have been in Old Delhi or Jodhpur, all that was missing were the piping hot cups of masala chai and the odd cow or donkey sauntering by outside.
We went through their shop and I enjoyed running my fingers through the beautiful wool – they had a small but lovely collection. Then I saw it … a gorgeous red and black Chinese carpet – very plush and hand-made. Alan insisted we had to buy it, which we did. Let me just tell you right now … it looks absolutely fabulous in our red living room. But Alan also insisted it was not a birthday present as we had been looking into buying a rug for some time now. But he seems to have forgotten that what we have been looking for is a rug to replace the slightly tattered one in the family room. I did remind him.
Alan has never been the kind of partner who buys flowers or gifts because an occasion has presented a reason to do so, he is a year round giver of presents, thoughtful deeds and himself. I completely adore the man. He will buy me something that he knows I have been coveting when the opportunity presents itself and brings it home to me with such a look of pleasure, even amusement - because he is fully aware of the animated reaction he will unfailingly receive from me. He takes me to places I have read or heard about which he knows would intrigue me but that I would never venture out on my own to see. He knows all the peculiar little things that make me smile – like opening the French-doors at home because I love air-flow through the house; turning on table lamps instead of the overhead ones, keeping the sink dry, lighting nag champa if he’s frying something so that the house does not smell so completely of fried food, bringing me a cup of coffee when I least expect it, planting a kiss on my shoulder or forehead, picking up a newspaper at the Gujarati shop because it contained stories about India which again he just knows I will read from cover to cover - over and over and over.
I love that when we hire movies, we bawl our eyes out together – it’s wonderful that we have such similar tastes and feelings. I love that every night when he offers me fruit, an hour or so after dinner, he picks four fruits – cuts them each in half and then puts half of each onto a plate for me and half of each onto a plate for himself. For example two beautiful pears, he will not just give me one and have one himself. He cuts each in half and we have one half of each to make up a full pear. With mandarins, he will peel two then divide each one into two – and again we have one half of each. It might take the idea of oneness a stretch too far for some people, but I find it is an itimacy that goes beyond words. Inspite of being such a busy man - he is constantly on call with his office ringing at all hours, he still makes the time to mindfully do this so we truly share in the sweetness of the fruit together. After being with him for twenty-five years, he continues to do the little things that most guys only do when they first start dating someone - only for these precious, romantic and priceless deeds to wear off once familiarity gets in the way of surprise. I love that I know Alan so very well, and that he will never surprise me by forgetting to do these beautiful things.
It is these little bits of sweetness that he does on a daily basis that he will carry out beyond my expectations when it’s Happy Birthday Week that truly overwhelms me. How I love him and his complete attention. It is Wednesday and there is still tonight, and four days more of birthday celebrations.
He never tires, he just adores me.
We went through their shop and I enjoyed running my fingers through the beautiful wool – they had a small but lovely collection. Then I saw it … a gorgeous red and black Chinese carpet – very plush and hand-made. Alan insisted we had to buy it, which we did. Let me just tell you right now … it looks absolutely fabulous in our red living room. But Alan also insisted it was not a birthday present as we had been looking into buying a rug for some time now. But he seems to have forgotten that what we have been looking for is a rug to replace the slightly tattered one in the family room. I did remind him.
Alan has never been the kind of partner who buys flowers or gifts because an occasion has presented a reason to do so, he is a year round giver of presents, thoughtful deeds and himself. I completely adore the man. He will buy me something that he knows I have been coveting when the opportunity presents itself and brings it home to me with such a look of pleasure, even amusement - because he is fully aware of the animated reaction he will unfailingly receive from me. He takes me to places I have read or heard about which he knows would intrigue me but that I would never venture out on my own to see. He knows all the peculiar little things that make me smile – like opening the French-doors at home because I love air-flow through the house; turning on table lamps instead of the overhead ones, keeping the sink dry, lighting nag champa if he’s frying something so that the house does not smell so completely of fried food, bringing me a cup of coffee when I least expect it, planting a kiss on my shoulder or forehead, picking up a newspaper at the Gujarati shop because it contained stories about India which again he just knows I will read from cover to cover - over and over and over.
I love that when we hire movies, we bawl our eyes out together – it’s wonderful that we have such similar tastes and feelings. I love that every night when he offers me fruit, an hour or so after dinner, he picks four fruits – cuts them each in half and then puts half of each onto a plate for me and half of each onto a plate for himself. For example two beautiful pears, he will not just give me one and have one himself. He cuts each in half and we have one half of each to make up a full pear. With mandarins, he will peel two then divide each one into two – and again we have one half of each. It might take the idea of oneness a stretch too far for some people, but I find it is an itimacy that goes beyond words. Inspite of being such a busy man - he is constantly on call with his office ringing at all hours, he still makes the time to mindfully do this so we truly share in the sweetness of the fruit together. After being with him for twenty-five years, he continues to do the little things that most guys only do when they first start dating someone - only for these precious, romantic and priceless deeds to wear off once familiarity gets in the way of surprise. I love that I know Alan so very well, and that he will never surprise me by forgetting to do these beautiful things.
It is these little bits of sweetness that he does on a daily basis that he will carry out beyond my expectations when it’s Happy Birthday Week that truly overwhelms me. How I love him and his complete attention. It is Wednesday and there is still tonight, and four days more of birthday celebrations.
He never tires, he just adores me.
3 comments:
Cho Chweet my parents :D
Thank you Hathaway! And thank you for the chorrrklate cake and "joodee" candles!
bb sigh is all I can say!
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