Every year's birthday is special in its own way, but this 21st birthday is probably the one that gives me the most pleasant surprise ever, and is the coziest ever.
A few days before my birthday, Mariam, Ruby, Ramisa, and Rasha had secretly bought ingredients so that on my birthday, we all could bake a ✨ vegan chocolate cake ✨ together. Ramisa and Ruby did eat too much of our batter and frosting in the process of making it, but we still had enough to perfectly fill my lunch container—their genius alternative for a baking mold.
Computer Science and Math students brainstorming how to divide the cake in the fairest way?
Wow, the 21 candles that they bought for me…!
Ruby made this super lovely card for me!
They knew I loved fruits (and they loved too lol)!
I was truly amazed by this poem.
Do you guys know what was the wish I made before blowing the candle that day? It was: I wish that in my upcoming 21st-year-old journey, each person in five of us would find a lot of meaning in the things we do, both in our own life and in the times we will share together.
We baked the cake in the afternoon, but earlier in the day, we also shared a wholesome lunch together! Ruby and Ramisa chopped the vegetables, Rasha cooked, then Mariam and I enjoyed 😆 (don't get us wrong — Mariam lives “far” away, and I was on my duty to throw our compost trash 😗). We each came from a different food culture, but through the time we were friends, we have understood not just each other's dietary restrictions, but also food values, preferences, and eating habits. This lunch — vegan tofu fried rice, roasted eggplants, and split pea dal — was a perfect middle ground for all five of us. It was really, really tasty for each of us!! As I ate and looked at them chatting and giggling, I felt so thankful for this family meal. I also admired them so much for their cooking talent and thoughtfulness ❤️.
The cozy family lunch, the peaceful afternoon walk, the exciting baking process, the fun cake decorating & cutting & eating time… everything was already more than enough to fuel my 21st year of age. However, after all of that, they sat me down and presented me with something else. At first glance it was one video. But then it was a just teaser of over a dozen more videos.
No words can do justice to how meaningful this surprise present is to me. No words can fully describe how happy and touched I was.
In that video, my friends and teachers — my favorite ones — from all over the world said happy birthday to me.