On Your Birthday.

• 21st January 2013
• 0

On your birthday,

I want you to know that I am very thankful that you were victorious in the race of life and that you edged out the rest of your potential siblings. I thank the higher powers that you did not perish in a wad of crumpled tissue or got swallowed.

I thank God that you came to be.

I am thankful for the values and principles that your parents have instilled upon you. I am thankful for the home they’ve built for you, the family that you grew up with. For it is within your home that you learn precious lessons not found anywhere else.

I am thankful for the friends that you choose to surround yourself with. Both in school and at work. I thank them for teaching you the importance of brotherhood, of shared joy and pain. Your friends first believed in you; their shoulders, the first you cried on. They taught you acceptance, they taught you that there are things in life that money can’t buy.

I am thankful for your enemies; for being the constant reminder of the kind of person you should never be.

I am thankful for your ex-girlfriend, for she’d probably (though I’ll never admit it) taught you the things that I like. I am thankful that it didn’t work out; for she taught you that in life, we have to make mistakes before you can get something right.

I thank them for making you who you are today.

But even more so,

For all the things that you’ve done, like remembering my favourite things and sharing my love for all things pork. For trips and souvenirs when I can’t come along. For doing touristy things and walking far distances with me. For never complaining (out loud) when I take too long to get ready. For WhatsApp conversations consisting entirely of emoticons, emails during work hours and handmade cards.

For dispelling my fears with reassuring words. For nursing me back to health. For letting me make my own decisions and always being supportive. For living with my inability to spell or multi-task. For not finding flaws in my argument that spending RM180 on a ZARA top is totally worth the money.

And the little things, that more often than not goes unnoticed; like how during long drives you’d reach over and hold my hand. Or how you’d wait until I am safely back in the house before driving off. The way you always share, giving me the best bits and eating what I won’t.

And probably a million other things that I have been too daft to notice.

Happy Birthday.