You can say that I’m fated to be a teacher because my birthday falls close to Teacher’s Day. In fact, this year, my birthday was Teacher’s Day.
The good thing about being a late parent is that instead of being embroiled in a mid-life crisis, I’m so immersed in the rush hour of life that I have neither the headspace nor inclination to emo. How rushed is rush? Well, both my kids are not potty trained yet. 😅
In my 20s and 30s, I would have dismissed a trip to Bird Paradise with an air of disdainfulness. My line of thinking would be: It’s too manufactured, not authentic, clearly designed to be a tourist trap, etc.
But as I embrace my 40s, I stoically accept the remaining doors that are open for me. Bird Paradise is great! Not bad for a birthday outing for the following reasons:
- I got free tickets!
- Plenty of air-conditioned places so that we could hide from the scorching sun!
- Spacious enough for my kids to run amok!
- Main attractions are close enough to one another, so we didn’t have to walk too much!
- Full of eye-catching, mind-blowing facts to capture my imagination!
- Son lost his penguin head (he brought along all his penguin toys) but managed to get the LAST set of penguin figurines at the gift shop. My birthday would have soured pretty swiftly if he were denied his conquest.
- Daughter fell and cut her lip but thankfully, her teeth were all intact.
Memorable birthdays are made of this: a breather from the normal stresses of life, some drama but none too debilitating, and a teeny weeny bit of novelty. And that’s enough.