Today I turned 26 in Japan. No longer do I feel entitled to
constant declarations of “Happy Birthday!”s or a stack of greeting cards with
cash inside. Rather, today I was simply
excited with Dr. Trung, a young visiting doctor from Vietman, handed me a
present. Inside was a small plastic
plate decorated with a picture of the Trung Tien Bridge in his home town, a
Barbie keychain, and a mini bottle of nail polish remover. He apologized that his gift was stupid but he
had nothing else in his apartment. I responded that as the only gift I would
open on my birthday, it did not matter the contents. But in fact the plate is beautiful and I
truly needed some nail polish remover.
His concerned frown widened to a smile and he bowed deeply, pleased that
he could bring me birthday joy. And when
Dr. Rachy and Dr. Jome, two Thai doctors I had met 3 hours before, insisted
that they take me to lunch at a restaurant, not the cafeteria, to celebrate my
birthday, I was again reminded of the genuine goodness of the human spirit.
A birthday is not a day for presents or greetings from
family and friends. It is a day to feel
blessed. Blessed to be alive. Blessed to have a go at this crazy, exciting,
weird, a little shitty, but always amazing thing called life. Thanks to Dr. Trung, Dr. Rachy, and Dr.
Jome, I ended up having a great 26th birthday.
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