Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Il Mio Compleanno

It is my 21st birthday, and how blessed I am to be spending it in Florence, Italy! My first birthday text arrived at 1:30 AM from my mother—and I couldn’t be happier that she was the first one to wish me a happy birthday. It was the perfect way to fall asleep.
I awoke with the sense of excitement I used to feel when I was young. My mother always made our birthdays seem like a holiday in our house. We would go down to breakfast to find ‘our chair’ decorated with balloons and a “Happy Birthday” sign, and our favorite breakfast cooking on the stove. I remember the decorated chair most. It was our special spot.
When I went into my kitchen this morning and switched on the stove, I looked at the bare chairs surrounding the table, and became saddened that I was not celebrating with my family. I have been blessed to have a birthday over spring break, meaning I was always able to be with my family on my birthday. But, it is just a day.
I decided to treat myself to a special breakfast—crepes and baked apples. I had found a simple recipe online for baked cinnamon apples, and had some leftover ingredients to make more crepes for myself. Why not start the day with something sweet?
I diced an apple, put it in the saucepan with butter, sprinkled it with cinnamon, and set it to simmer and caramelize as the directions indicated. I then mixed my crepe batter, praying that I would not feel ‘glutened’ from these crepes like I did after the last batch (even though all the ingredients are completely gluten free, something definitely does not work with my intestines, as I spent the rest of today in immense pain).
As I started flipping crepes, I smelled something burning, and found the bottom of my apple saucepan completely coated with black tar. I had to dump the apples out, resolving to fill the crepes with strawberry jam and whipped cream. I was determined not to be upset with myself for burning my breakfast—it happens to everyone sometimes. The pan looked beyond repair, but I scraped it the best I could and set it to soak.
I then began cleaning the kitchen, which was much more of a mess than I would have preferred (both from my handiwork and from a week of neglect). As wrappers and napkins spilled out of the trash can and toppled onto my feet, I decided that I would officially terminate my “strike” against my roommates, who had not emptied the trash can since last week despite the fact that it was clearly written on the chores list for them this week, and empty the trashcan myself. It took 4 bags to gather all the garbage. No matter—I was not going to get frustrated on my birthday!
Frustration is useless. I was supposed to start my day by running across the street to the Hotel Enza, where Jon and Shaun would have been staying. I was supposed to hurry to class and hurry back so we could depart on a night train to some foreign land for an amazing adventure. Of course, things fell through on their end, so I gathered my folders and prepared for a long day of class (and then a special “festa” tonight at Deanna’s hosted by her and Sami!).
Even though today is my ‘marathon’ day with classes (7 hours of class), I found time to relax in the morning at my favorite café with Deanna. My roommate Laura joined us halfway through, and we sat together, sipping coffee and doing homework. Sem was happy to see us there, and made small talk (meaning he barely talked, as always!). He looked at me and exclaimed, “It’s your birthday today!” I laughed, surprised that he remembered. Four weeks ago, he helped me study for my Italian quiz—one of the questions to study was “When is your birthday?” He remembered from helping me study!
After coffee, I headed across the street to give San Lorenzo another chance as my prayer location for the day. Yesterday during my prayer, the organ was being tuned. Not that I mind—an organ has to be tuned sometime. However, the tuning was in a minor key, and it’s hard to feel cheerful and engage happily with my Father and overcome my sorrows when there’s the haunting sounds of an organ being tuned looming in the background.
            The organ was still being tuned. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to go elsewhere, so I bowed my head and attempted to concentrate the best I could.
I then headed to Intercultural Communication, where my professor brought his wife, a Turkish woman, in as a guest lecturer to provide commentary on our reading of intimate intercultural relationships. It was inspiring to observe the two of them, sharing stories of follies and struggles they had to overcome in order to build a successful marriage. This woman was absolutely incredible—born and raised in Turkey, she fell in love with an Italian, and left all she knew and all she had to move to Italy. She knew nothing of the language, culture, etc. All she knew was that she loved this man. It was truly an inspiring story.
After class, I went to the nearby piazza to find a photo booth to take my pictures for the Permit of Stay. I knew it would cost 5 euro—I didn’t want to part with 5 euro, as this permit was costing enough already. However, it had to be done. I sat in the photo booth, snapped the picture, and realized that in the lower left hand corner of the screen were the words “Credit: 6 euro.”
Apparently, the booth’s previous user had left an additional 6 euro in the machine, allowing me to receive my pictures for free. As the machine spit out my pictures, I glanced around, feeling like I was stealing something. I slid my hand into the slot, grabbed my pictures, and left, thanking God for this special birthday surprise.
I had extra time prior to my Italian class, and happened to walk past Lion Café again, where Franco met me outside. Franco had disappeared for almost a month due to a back operation. He was paler than usual, and seemed to have lost his spirit. He came up and hugged me as usual, urging me to stay and talk for a while. Sem, having seen me from inside Lion across the street, had come out onto the sidewalk, yelling to Franco that it was my birthday. The two of them then urged me to come in for a complimentary drink, and I was pushed into the café and received the most delicious hot chocolate of my life. Franco put his arm around me as I drank, repeating to Sem in Italian, “Isn’t she beautiful?” Sem would laugh and agree, and I would just laugh along, even if I didn’t know all that was being said.
Not a bad way to drink some hot chocolate.
I then went to Italian class, and had a short break afterwards (during which I returned home to discover that Laura had left me a pack of my favorite gluten free cookies) before heading to Body Language. We had a mock interview tonight (which was graded, so I was of course nervous beyond compare). However, we were released a half an hour early, so I went to the Mercato Centrale to do a bit of homework before heading to Deanna’s.
They had prepared me an amazing evening of gluten free cheesecake, chocolate, wine, and French toast (complete with Nutella and fresh fruit). We laughed, sang, and talked about life and God, as we always do when we are together. I felt so blessed to be in their presence, and was truly touched that these ladies had gone to all the trouble to provide a gluten free feast for me.
I ended the evening with a much-needed Skype session back home.
My prayer time today in San Lorenzo was a special blessing. I got lost in my prayer, reflecting on every phase of my life and thanking God for the abundance of His blessings during each stage. No matter what phase of my life, He was there, providing health, happiness, a wonderful and loving family, and incredible people. I reflected on all those who drew me closer to Him and guided my walk with Him—Bradley, Taylor, my parents…I have been abundantly blessed to a degree which I do not deserve, and it makes me feel truly loved and overwhelmed when I look back on the past 21 years. As I looked at my daily devotion for the day, I was blown away by how perfectly it captured what I was feeling:
"I am with you. If you look over your life you will see how I was with you at every turn. I am not surprised by what you are facing. I am not shocked by your mistakes. I knew all along and I already planned your way out. You must see that I was with you then and I am with you now. I'm not going to leave you. There's nothing you can do to make me stop loving you. I was with you before you met that special someone, with you before you knew that person you admire, with you before I placed those people in your life. I was with you from the very beginning when you took your first breath and I Am With You Now."
He has been with me through all these glorious stages of my life, and He is with me now—what reason would He have for leaving? He is with me now just as much as then. He got me to where I am today, and I lift up my life to Him and will thank Him with every breath for what He has done thus far and what He will continue to do.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be in Florence for my 21st birthday, sipping wine and eating gluten free food with amazing women God drew me close to, but here I am—and I couldn’t feel more blessed.


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