30 and happy...

Ok, I now revealed my age. There’s no point in hiding it.

I got my first birthday greeting from my mom, my siblings and my nephew. Talking to them makes me feel more homesick than ever, and I never felt more alone than ever in my life. I started asking the question if I made the right decision…

But then I just shrugged the thought and looked at all the blessings I have in my life. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I always believe in this. I treasured my family more when I was away from the Philippines, and felt the strong bond in the family no matter how far we are from each other. I don’t have the right to feel sad.

I had a pre-birthday celebration from my very old friend Carol. We’ve been friends since 8 years old and nothing seemed to change even after 22 years. She’s been my regular weekend-hangout friend, driving from Indiana to downtown Chicago. Our Sunday went by so well that everything we planned was right on schedule, believe me, we are not these kinds of people, we'll either be late in a planned event, or just be too lazy to do it. But from going to church, to doing measurements in my apartment… then lunch… then movie, everything we did was just right on time! Can't believe it. She treated me out on Tavern on Rush - service sucks but we still enjoyed the day and took a good pix with the big wine glass vases at the back.

I also had a wonderful lunch with my colleagues whom I never expected them to know that it was my birthday. Yann (my ex boss) told Bill (my current boss), who then told all the rest of my colleagues in the office about it. They gave me this beautiful flower vase and had this grand day candle. I am grateful to feel so welcomed by the team.

I had another surprise by getting these colorful flowers from Joy. She never failed to make my day special, even if we’re so far away already. BFF gal!

More messages, more phone calls received from all my favorite people.

As I was about to leave the office already, I opened the gift which Brian handed to me. I thought the gift was from Brian but did not expect that they were all from the people I worked with in Warsaw! I was laughing so hard when I looked at the gifts… see this…

everyone seems to relay the same message... men and dating in chicago... Don’t worry, men will come... it will have to be a matter of time.

I turned 30, feeling so lucky to have a wonderful family, very good friends and colleagues all around the world. I never felt more contented in my life.