celebrating in the middle of darkness

after the fury of milenyo hit the city, we were left with no water and electricity. A slight predicament, I would say, compared to those lives and properties crushed by fallen billboards, broken trees and flying whatnots. Still, I was distraught at the thought that b’s birthday would be glum because of the power outage. I made plans to surprise him but due to the “dark” situation, I feared that everything I have planned was in major jeopardy.

instead of pushing through with my planned dinner at TOSH a day before b’s bday, we went out to drive his niece and nephew in makati to cool down. Immediately after they left, I impatiently gave him my first gift, the shirt from izod. I’m glad that he was really surprised and was so excited to wear it. An advance gift for next day’s big day.

For people like us who are not fond of parties, birthdays and other special days are mostly spent going out with loved ones. On this occasion, we treated his family to lunch at mann hann in moa followed by a timezone gaming session for the kids. Then we traveled all the way south to don henrico’s in festival mall to have dinner with my family. Both meals were equally enjoyable. the former because of the kids that brightened the day with their funny antics and cutey cute gestures and the latter because of the cheerful conversations with my whole family including my brother’s gf whom they met for the first time.

Although I had fun with how b celebrated his birthday with family, it was the time spent alone with him that I took pleasure in the most. The actual highlight of the day was when I gave him the cake I ordered so let me tell you how it went.

When b was choosing a resto to treat my family, I was concerned of how I would get the cake. Thankfully, the place we came up with only has a branch down south. I was also grateful that my aunt was inviting me to her company’s activity so I used that as an excuse why we need to drop by atc. The moment I figured out a plan, we had a little debate on where to park coz I don’t want him seeing me with the cake on hand. I don’t know if I’m a good actress or b was just too worn out with this whole blackout thing to even suspect on something. Actually, I noticed that he doesn’t seem happy and sweet at all. The emotional freak that I am, I can’t help but cry at how all this turned out.

We split as soon as we entered the mall. Both of us went to the bathroom wherein I stalled for 5 mins until I was sure that he’s gone out. Somewhat worried that the cake wasn’t done due to the power outage, I hurriedly went to the kiosk while looking around my front, sides, and back to check if he’s still there. I actually felt like being in a suspense movie followed by a deranged man who’s trying to kill me. Some people might be looking at me like some crazy chick but I don’t care. I want this to be a complete surprise.

When I got the cake, I went back to the parking lot. Good thing I have a spare key so I had no problems putting the cake in the car without him knowing it. I went back to the mall to meet him up and like nothing happened, we went back to his car. When he saw the cake he was a mix up of a confused, clueless and surprised guy. Then I cried. I cried because I thought this whole surprise thingie was being a hassle for him. I cried because I thought that no matter what I did to make this day special, he still wasn’t able to feel the birthday spirit. I cried because I love this guy so much and all I wanted was him to be happy. But he told me he is happy. I cried some more because of the hell I’m thinking all this when I know that this guy also loves me so much.

After dinner was bonding session with my family at home. We were supposed to eat the cake for dessert but somehow, b didn’t bring it out of the car. He was saving it. He wanted the first bite to be special. He invited me out and we drove back to moa all the while recounting everything that happened from day 1 of the surprise. We parked outdoors, took photos and ate the cake using improvised plates.

Despite the blackout, b told me it was one of the best birthdays he ever celebrated.