The Birthday Celebration

Yesterday was my birthday. I didn’t want to make a big deal about it. I may next year when I turn 65, but not this year, but I didn’t want to let it go unrecognized either. It turned out to be a delight and a turning point of sorts

On Wednesday, I had told my conversation class for staff members that I would bring cookies on Friday. When they asked why, I admitted it was my birthday. It was just a comment in passing, but they remembered. I said cookies because I do not have a stove,  only a 2-burner propane hot plate, so I am restricted in what I can prepare – no cakes, which is fine with me since I don’t really like cake all that much. So I made the no-bake chocolate cookies on Thursday and was set. Friday morning after devotions, on an impulse, I asked my colleague Faith, who is also my next door neighbor, is she and her family would like to come to dinner. I really didn’t want to eat dinner alone, as I usually do. She quickly accepted. Faith and her family are Tanzanian missionaries from the Lutheran church. Then I began to obsess about what I would serve. I quickly settled on spaghetti, since I had just discovered the availability of ground meat, here referred to as minced meat, and had bought some and had frozen it. I made a shopping list and sent Josephine to the market for the rest of the ingredients for a complete meal. I couldn’t just serve spaghetti sauce.

With staff and the Bishop's miter

Then I headed off to the conversation class, with cookies in hand. The students had a surprise for me. They made a “birthday hat” and a handmade card and presented them to me when I arrived with the cookies. The hat looked more like a bishop's miter but I had to wear it. They were please with themselves and I was touched by their thoughtfulness. Everyone enjoyed the cookies and conversation about customs surrounding birthdays.

After lunch, I began my dinner preparations and that is when I began to wonder at my sanity. I have a sparsely furnished house – 6 dinner plates, 4 bowls, 3 mugs and 3 glasses. All of this was provided by the Presbyterian church here. It has been more than adequate for me, but not for entertaining. I forgot all of that when I invited Faith and her family of 5 – she, her husband, 2 children and her housekeeper/nanny/friend. With me that made 6. I had just enough plates, thank the Lord. The cups and glasses were another matter. I decided I would be one of the kids and forego tea with dinner. I only have 5 chairs for the dining table, so that meant we would eat buffet style. Then there was the issue of cooking pots, burners on the hotplate and serving dishes. Praise God for a nest of thermal style bowls with lids that are so popular in Africa. They are popular because many women still cook on open fires and can only prepare one pot at a time, so the insulated bowls keep the food warm. I was blessed with 2 “fires” for cooking so I was ahead of the game. I just had to juggle the preparation a bit. Plastic storage containers that my friend Nora had sent me served as impromptu serving dishes for bread and coleslaw. All was good to go.

The truth is that no one but me noticed the hodgepodge of table setting. They were just pleased to be invited. In the course of the conversation I discovered this was the first dinner invitation they had had in the 8 months they have been here. We had a lovely time telling stories and comparing notes about foods from different countries. It was a delightful time. They surprised me with a sweet card and a small wall hanging. I was touched.

As I was cleaning up after they left, I realized how much I missed entertaining like that. It had been a regular part of my life in Malawi and in the States. It is a part of who I am. It would be an ongoing birthday present to myself to resume the practice. I will have to do some shopping to fill out the serving needs, but there is great joy in that idea, too. More presents of a sort, to share with others, more of who I am to share with my new friends.