It was my birthday last weekend, my second spent in California on this adventure.  I have spent one previous birthday travelling home to the UK from the States, so you could kind of say I have celebrated three times in America, but as that was a holiday and not living here, I won’t really count it on this occasion.

Last November I can remember opening birthday cards in bed on the morning of my birthday and getting a phone call from my parents.  I was so homesick….the cards were a connection back to home, friends and family; and I should have been happy, but I felt so sad and cried on the phone.  Once we were up and about, we headed to Santa Monica and so I had distraction and a new place to explore.

We had a really lovely lunch out and found an Italian restaurant where the lasagne actually reminded me of Italy.  Not an American version of Italian food, but actually like the real deal.  I can remember a man in chefs whites sitting at a table near us with a lady and they were having coffee and chatting in Italian.  Our son was well behaved and the meal was a lovely experience to mark my birthday.

This year I came down with a cold.  We had a sitter booked for Friday night (only the second time we have had one) so went out as planned for dinner, but I spent the meal diving into my bag for tissues and blowing my nose….not pleasant.  I felt worse as the evening progressed and so we headed home earlier than perhaps we would have done.  I then spent the whole of Saturday in bed.  By Sunday, my actual birthday I was feeling a bit more human.  Not enough energy for a day out as we thought we might do, but enough to go out for breakfast.

This year the call from the UK was from a dear friend and it was so lovely to hear her voice and to catch up on her news.  It was a happy call and opening cards was fun and I felt loved.

With some prompting my husband had taken our son shopping for an addition to my charm bracelet.  A bracelet that was a gift from my work colleagues back home who had given it to me as my leaving present.  The charms remind me of them all  – and home.

Now I have new reminders for California:  a sun, a beach ball which is red, white and blue (chosen by my three year old) and a letter charm to represent my son.

During the afternoon we played board games and I had a call from Phoenix.   When we moved into our house we met our neighbours who had been in the area a few years – they made such a huge difference to our lives.  Then at the end of May they moved to Phoenix, so my phone call was from my old neighbour and it was so lovely to hear her voice and for us to catch up with them.  One day soon we will visit them in their new home.

This year I have put my cards up on the wall and it felt good to mark the occasion.

I look forward to the time when I can throw a party for my friends back in England and enjoy celebrating with them.

This year it was a Happy Birthday!