Sunday, October 4, 2009

Appeasing the Fate.

“You remember that you not suppose to celebrate THIS birthday, yes?” was the constant refrain during several weeks leading to the important event of me turning yet another year older.

I heard it from my mother and from my sister, from my grandmother and from my uncle. When I started to hear it from random acquaintances - a hairdresser, a woman with whom we got to chatting while sitting in a cafe, a cabby, who gave me a lift to the embassy, I really was forced to pay attention to this unwritten law – you are not suppose to celebrate your 40th birthday!

“Why? Tell me why?” – I asked again and again. “Bad luck”; “Hey, it isn’t my rule, you just not suppose to”; "You don’t want to incur bad luck, do you?” were the mysterious answers. And I did cave into outside pressure. Well, I planned to cheat a bit and go to the restaurant with my husband, but the forces of nature conspired against this foolish plan and sent some indigestion on me, so eating wasn’t all that appealing.

So, I want to make sure that all those gods or demigods over there who keep a keen eye on the protocol of birthday celebrations know that I did not celebrate THIS birthday.

But since nobody told me anything about presents – I received plenty of those.....

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