Full Days

Some days are full of variety and it takes awhile to catch up with them, once they fly past. That was Dec. 23, Thomas’ birthday. It has taken this long to have time to sit and write about it. It was great fun, and jam-packed. Three major events were planned for the day and a few unplanned thrown in for good measure. We had the birthday celebration, a staff Christmas party and a family seminar at the church. It was a day for time management in a country that doesn’t pay much attention to time.

The first order of the day was to celebrate the birthday. Thomas and the family had made the long trip from Ntaja the day before just for that purpose. They rode an hour on the motor bike (all 4 of them- Thomas driving, Jean on the back, Chimwemwe sandwiched in between them and Mphatso on Jean’s back) on dirt roads and then 4 hours on minibuses to Limbe where I went to pick them up. So they were ready for a party. I got up early to bake the birthday cake, with Chimwemwe’s help. He is great at licking the bowls. We had three folks drop in for various reasons as we were preparing. So the cake preparations took most of the morning.



Thomas and the children swinging



One of Thomas’ delights is to have a birthday lunch someplace special, so about noon, we collected the cake and the kids and we headed to La Caverna, a lovely lunch spot on the grounds of an historic building from colonial days, which is now a museum. The restaurant has a park-like setting and places for the children to play. I know the owners, so I knew we could take our own cake and not cause a problem. The children played on the handmade swing while we waited for our meals. After we ate, Chimwemwe sharing from everyone’s plates (so much more fun than just eating your own); we sang and cut the cake. I was watching the time because one of the unplanned events was a trip to the open air market to get vegetables and any other goodies that may catch our eyes. That is a trip fraught with danger to time-keeping. Jean loves to shop. To keep to time, I promised her time the next day for “untimed shopping.” (That was part of her birthday present, since her birthday is the 24^th. That did the trick.)



Gift giving to the staff and families



We arrived home just in time to set up for the staff Christmas party. I host a party for my house staff every year. They have become like family for me and we enjoy getting together for some social time, more than just handing out gifts. When they learned Thomas was coming, they asked if we couldn’t do it when was here. He is a favorite with them. They gathered at 4 p .m. for cookies and cokes, for music and presents. Gifts here are practical. The traditional gift is food – rice, salt, sugar, cooking oil, tea or soda and a chicken. (I gave money for them to buy a chicken each, since I don’t handle live chickens, if I can help it). Thomas led us in a Christmas meditation and them we celebrated. This is Malawi, so there had to be speeches of thanks and speeches of farewell as they left, even in informal gatherings. It was great fun, but I had to watch my time. I had to be at the church before 6 p.m. to speak at the last night of a week-long family seminar.

Jean cleaned up the party remains as I got dressed and gathered my notes. Thomas decided to accompany me, so off we went to get to the church just in time. This was the last night, so the crowd had gathered to finish strongly. The senior pastor had been ill all week. We were to share the speaking but he was still not feeling up to it, so I had the entire evening’s speaking. I had prepared earlier in the week, so that was not a problem and as a former teacher, I can always talk, so that was not a problem either. All went well. We finished about 8:30, after all the closing speeches and the like. As Thomas and I drove home, we reflected on the day. It had been full but fun.

 But it wasn’t over. Jean had prepared dinner for us, making all of Thomas’ favorite foods, including ngumbe (little insects that are only available when the rains come). I had bought them at the market for him on our shopping spree. We sat down to a birthday feast at 9 p.m. Then we sat up and talked until midnight, just enjoying being together. Some days are too good to let any time get away. And birthdays only come once a year.