Gloomy November

Augsburg, November

Tomorrow is my birthday and eventhough I'm not one of those women who deny these personal celebrations and hate being reminded of getting yet another year older, I never realy liked the season I was born into (sorry, mom, but you know how it is, being born on December 22nd yourself...).

I've always wanted to have my birthday in the summer, when the weather is sunny and warm and one can have a picnic outside and the day just seems to go on forever. Instead, my birthdays have been mostly gloomy, rainy days, sometimes covered in first snow, turning into slush under your feet. Once in my twenties I came up with the idea of celebrating half-birthdays, having a party in May instead of November, or to move to the Southern Hemisphere and enjoy the reversed seasons...

I came sooooo close to this last idea when my husband's job sent him to South Africa for half a year and we moved to Cape Town in June 2006. As much as I regretted leaving the European summer behind, I was looking forward to finaly having my birthday party outdoors the following November (South Africans love the barbecue, or braai, as they call it). But, because of some problems with our visa extentions, we were obliged to leave a few weeks sooner than we had planned and so we flew out on my very birthday - with all the packing and the new baby (Gaston was 10 weeks old when we left South Africa) there was no time for any kind of celebration.

Well, there is always the next birthday...