Candles

Happy Birthday to me.

I felt a little bit impatient for my birthday to come this year, I think I felt much the same way last year, but it's not so much looking forward to the birthday itself.

I spent at least half year before now feeling like there is no way I could possibly still be 22 years old. I felt so much older and although weeks and months seem to fly by so quickly, years still seem to take their time.

My birthday felt like vindication- finally I can officially be a little bit closer to the age that I feel.

Which is why what happened last weekend surprised me a bit.

My adult English conversation class took me out for lunch to celebrate my birthday. Of course, a few of the ladies were kind enough to bake cakes for me. So, at one point they were putting the candles on one of the cakes.

23 candles, I confirmed. Yes, I was going to be 23 years old.

So I watched the candles be put on the cake.

'They are being put on too close to each other.' I thought, but kept it to myself.

The candles circled the perimeter of the cake, keeping the same distance that I had believed was too close to possibly work. I had kind of a gnawing feeling somewhere within as I watched almost unable to tear my eyes away. To my bafflement, the way that the candles were spaced out worked perfectly.

I counted the candles to myself, in awe of how many there were. Sure enough, it was 23.

(It had been a few years since I last had a birthday cake with candles, I realized.)