Surprise, Surprise!

"Surprise!" they exclaimed with huge smiles on their faces, holding out the mouthwatering Red Ribbon cake that they bought just for me and waving two blue balloons in the air which they had painstakingly blown themselves. All along, this cake was actually mine. It was I who was driving when we had dropped by the bakeshop to buy it. My friend even had the nerve to tell me that we had to shell out some bucks for it, when in fact, it was really mine! Hahahhaa! Good one!

Posing with my birthday cake

Wow! I get to blow another candle on my "toot-toot-th" birthday!

As soon as they burst into their jolly, out-of-sync version of the "happy birthday" song, my heart skipped a beat, my eyes lit up, and my lips broke into a wide grin all in one instance. What I thought was a despedida get-together in Mcdo Libis (very near our workplace) for one of our friends who was about to go abroad turned out to be my very own birthday bash! It was touching indeed. And no matter how many surprises my different loved ones have thrown for me during the past years, they still managed to come up with new ideas and to catch me off guard.

The balloons were one-of-a-kind. Hehehe...

Enjoying our McDo meals together

I may have other sets of friends whom I have known a lot longer, but there's always room for more. And with this simple gesture of love and friendship, I felt that my bond with these girls had grown to more than just the passing-through kind. It was, hopefully, a camaraderie for keeps.

Until this day, the balloons which have shriveled to four times its original size continue to glide around on my bedroom floor. The words "Happy Birthday, Olive!" with the child-like drawing of a girl are still quite readable and still bring a smile to my face whenever I come home.

Thank you so much, girlfriends! =)