How the Birthday Went!

So, I have a class in a few minutes, but since it’s like totally unlikely that I’ll actually get anything done during these minutes, I decided to write a blog post. I’m not sure what I’mna write on, but considering the amount of topics I’ve had in mind since the last 2-3 years—okay, okay, since the last month—I should write on one of them.

I could, of course, talk about the greatness of the professor I’m TAing for (Noor, remember?), who just asked me to work with her on her book during Winter Break, but I won’t stuff you with how much I love her and all right now. I’ll instead tell you about the girls I mentioned in one of the previous posts where I said that this group of friends is so diverse yet so united and all – but mainly so I can tell you about how my birthday went :D The special day was on Sunday, September 18^th.

My friends and I meet up on Fridays for different purposes: to hold discussions on topics that are important to us (usually religion and society), to hang out and chill, to avoid doing homework/studying alone, to watch a couple of TV shows together, and, well, just to be together. The friend who came up with this idea is like our leader; we love her desperately, and she’s the one who knows each one of us individually –and so she begged us to let these gatherings be hosted by her, and we objected as much as humanly possible so as to avoid putting all the burden on her, but she insisted and she won. We all decided that it means a lot to her to host these, so we’ll let her have the pleasure. But once we’ve become an established group, we’ll take turns hosting it.

So, this last Friday, we all got an email from her (let’s call her B) telling us to try to come early so we can sign the birthday card for one of our friends whose birthday was on Thursday. She is one of the converts to Islam in the group (let’s call her Y). Apparently, she’d also sent out an email to everyone asking them the same thing to sign my birthday card :) Isn’t that the sweetest thing ever!?! :) But I didn’t know this, of course, and I wasn’t expecting that we’d celebrate our birthdays together, though now that I think about it, it only makes sense, eh. k, so, we all get there … and after all participants show up, B. turns the lights off and brings two cakes, one non-vegan (‘cause Y is vegan) and one normal vanilla cake. I was so surprised and so delighted!! They were like they didn’t wanna wait till next Friday to celebrate my birthday, so. And we had all this great food, toooo! And so we didn’t do our normal Qur’an discussions but just hung out and chilled. Well, we did a liiiiiiiiiiittle bit of Qur’an, but that was like a few verses only.

We left for our homes around 12am or so, I think.

Then on Sunday, my birthday, I wake up at like 12pm, right (of course), and I get out of my room to go to the bathroom – and there’s this lovely birthday balloon (which my niece would LOVE!!! OHMGOD!!! How I miss her!! :S) tied to my bathroom … and so I’m all touched and stuff and thank my roommate and her sister and am all smiles, right. So I take the balloon to my room and come back out for the bathroom again. And then lo and behold, my dear fans, guess what! The bathroom mirror, which is huuuuuuuuuuge, is all decorated with these beautiful messages about me (~blushing~) and there are flowers on the … counter? Like, OHMGOD!!! It was succchhh a beautiful moment, guys!! So I went over to hug them and all! It was too sweet to just let it be!

Then I got ready almost immediately to go to this gathering that a Pashtun family that my dad knows invited me to. And I didn’t know it was gonna be at this Islamic center, right, so I go there … and I’m like, wwwwait, I know this place! I’d gone there a couple of weeks ago with the girls for this really long prayer that Shiite Muslims hold during the odd days of the last ten days of Ramadhan. And so I call the girls and say, “Guess where I BEEEE, y’allz!!” And after a few minutes, they, too, two of them (Y. and H.) joined me there. It was so cool! :D

k, I’mna go now. I guess I didn’t get to describe my friends after all … oh well, definitely next time, inshaAllah, k?