Sometimes, you just know it’s going to be one of those days.
And sometimes, the day just completely turns around in the space of a few hours.
Yesterday was my birthday. More importantly it was my 21st birthday. It should be a happy day right? Nope! Key sign out for upper class students from 9am-1pm, work as a supervisor at the gym until 8:00, make bulletin board for common room, and hold our first floor meeting of the semester at 10:15. That was pretty much my big exciting plans for my birthday.
It played out pretty much exactly like that. I first went to key signout and then worked at the gym. Throughout the day, I received many birthday wishes on Facebook, and quite a few people came up to me to wish me Happy Birthday. But overall, it was shaping up exactly the way I expected: just another busy, uneventful birthday.
Boy, was I wrong. When I returned to Keefe at 8:30pm, my friends Eric, Berkin, Ben and Becky were waiting for me in our common room with a beautifully decorated homemade birthday cake and a birthday card.
My heart literally warmed up, right there and then, seeing some of my best friends gathered around the cake. But that wasn’t all. When I walked back to my room to get my camera, I was completely taken by surprise by an unexpected sight on my door: there was a Happy Birthday streamer hanging on the door, and a little pink card pinned to my door. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that it was a hand-drawn birthday card from my RA staff members. It was really beautiful, and I loved it.
That still wasn’t all. Around the time when our floor meeting was supposed to start, Marianna, Li and Rachel, three of the RAs on my staff, showed up on my floor, and Marianna brought delicious cupcakes. A couple of minutes later, Nirav, my HR, showed up as well.
I started off the meeting by introducing myself. But before I could get any further, my residents and co-RAs started singing me Happy Birthday. While this was taking place, I saw Sarah, one of my residents whom I bonded with every day in RA training, slip out of the common room, and came back with a huge tray full of cupcakes. I actually spotted Sarah running back to our floor with cupcakes about half an hour earlier, but for some reason I didn’t make the connection. Now that I knew what they were for, I was so moved.
So there you have it, the story of how my birthday completely turned around in about 2 hours. I’ve just never had a big birthday celebration, either at home or here at Lafayette, so everything that happened between 8:30 and 10:30 last night was just a huge surprise. It feels incredibly gratifying that I had so many friends who not only knew, but cared, that it was my 21st birthday. In addition, I have always tried to be cheerful, optimistic and helpful towards others to the extent of my capabilities, and it feels good to know that people, especially my friends, not only recognized, but appreciated, what I do and who I am. Thank you! I love you guys!
