Lydia turned 11 yesterday. I arrived at the party not the last and not the first. Lydia was in her bedroom, playing with her iPad and she came out and greeted me with a hug. This caused Elisa to come off the coach and follow suit. Some of Yang’s old Beijing friends were there. None of her new ones were. Yang invited her old friends since they have kids and it would make for more of a party; she is good at that. As the other friends arrived, I walked the 10 minutes to Baskin Robbins to pick up Lydia’s birthday cake. Ice Cream cakes are a tradition. A light sprinkle joined me for the walk home.
The food and beverage went roughly as one would expect if one knows how these parties go. Food is served when it’s ready. The older Beijing friends like a certain beverage that I did not partake in. I stuck with diet coke. The cake was served before the noodles, but no bother both were excellent. So, I am told.
After Lydia made her wish, blew out the candles, and ate her cake I went to her bedroom with my gift. Drawing paper. Sketch pad. Good colored pencils. A sharpener. She seemed happy. I hung out on the couch watching CNN and ESPN which I don’t get. At some point I fell asleep as the old Beijing friends toasted and told stories. I was tired and worn from the night before. Near dinner time I left, hugging the kids one by one. I asked the old Beijing friends why they had not started playing Mahjong yet and Yang said they hadn’t found the table. They found it shortly after I left and played for who knows how long.
The day after Lydia’s birthday, I woke up with a stomach ache. No running for me today. Coffee down. Subway taken. I arrived to see Lydia and the kid girls again. I spent the day with Lydia and Elisa which meant going to the mall for lunch and some more time on the coach. For dinner, Lydia asked me to take her for one of her all time favorites from the old days -- butter chicken at the Indian restaurant downstairs. As we waited for the food, Lydia told me about how you can tell if someone is lying or not. They shake their hand, or they look down, or they brush their hair. I told her that it can be hard to tell if someone is lying or not; that you need to know the person. I left out that even if you know the person, you sometimes cannot tell. And I should have said, a lot of times you need to choose if the person is telling you the truth or not. And that your life will be much richer if you choose the truth despite what feels like evidence to the contrary.
The butter chicken came. It was as good as Lydia remembered it. I asked Lydia if she liked her birthday party yesterday. She said it was good but didn’t feel like a big event. She mentioned another birthday, a few years back (see http://vinceallio.com/family/?p=435), where she was so happy and how memorable it was especially when she watches the short video I made. I remember it very well too, for other reasons.