My husband turned 60 on Saturday.

I was more excited about his milestone birthday than he was. That’s not to say he wasn’t excited. He was. In a no-fuss, matter-of-fact way. Which has always been his approach to his birthday. Yes, his birthday. Not mine😊.

He gets excited about other things. Holidays that focus on mountains, lakes and vast expanses of open fields like the holiday we had in Scotland. Not so much city breaks. Music and watching bands perform, and more recently bird spotting.

He enjoys off-road motorcycle riding, and has ridden an on-road motorbike from John o’ Groats in northeast Scotland to Land’s End in Cornwall, England, and Route 66 in the US. Both of which he did with his schoolmate.

Anyways, I remember many moons ago when we were getting to know each other or as some people would call it ‘courting’, I visited him in Manila for his birthday. I arranged with the restaurant, where we had lunch, to have their in-house pianist play ‘Happy Birthday’ plus have their staff deliver a birthday cake after our meal. No, he didn’t take the day off from work to celebrate his birthday

Then, there was the time when I was in Taipeh for his birthday. He had to work late. Again, no day off from work. So, we had a very late dinner. He didn’t mind it all as it was just another day for him.

I, on the other hand, give myself a ‘cuti’ day or holiday for my birthday, and declare the whole month of March as my birthday month. During my time as an employee, I had had enough experiences of issues blowing up on my birthday that disrupted and delayed my special celebration that I decided to avoid work altogether to avoid angst for myself.

After all, it’s one day in a year that’s important to me. Nothing about work is that critical in the whole retrospective scheme of things. Admittedly, I believed it was, many times, then. I’ve stopped working for a while now. I don’t miss work and work doesn’t miss me. So…

As for me, I like a bit of fuss, nothing noisy or public. Presents, I don’t have expensive tastes, no designer labels etc. I like desserts. Full stop. This is true. I always look forward to next March, after this March ends.

Like I said I was excited about my husband’s birthday. Not just on Saturday but 59 days ago.  Actually, much earlier than that. But I had to remind myself that it wasn’t my birthday, and to be a little less keen. It didn’t quite work. I mean how do you not get enthused. My mind was working all the time.

I planned a-present-a-day for 60 days. I knew from the get go that it would be both a fun and challenging endeavour. I also thought how wonderful it would’ve been if my Sinnavan was alive, she would’ve have been my friendly co-conspirator, and party planner. Full of excitement and ideas. What to do…

Top of mind was what to buy, where to buy, whether online or not, and delivery dates. I drew up a gift-giving schedule, never mind that I didn’t know what they might comprise, based on the number of days we were at home, in England, in Scotland and home again.

Presents at home were easier to manage. Away, not so. They had to be smaller, and fit stealthily in the luggage. And, I needed 32 of them, as that was the number of days we were away. The first time since 2012 that we’ve had a more than two-week holiday. Why? Work and personal commitments. And, Covid, I think. Never mind.

I had a list of items that I sort of knew he would like which included paraphernalia related to Star Wars like a mousepad and stationery. He already has a Yoda USB Flash Drive. Books on music and bird watching. Concert tickets. I knew he would use note books, note pads, a forever calendar. Smellies and daily essentials like body wash, vitamins, toothpaste and socks. Activities that we could do together like riding ATVs, canopy walkway, luge and archery.

What else?

Games on the go like Snap, Tic-Tac-Toe and silly stuff like two dice on types of movies and food. It works like this. Throw the dice. See where it lands. The choice might be to watch a sci-fi or action movie while having pizza or Chinese food😊. A host of pins with weird and funny sayings like ‘Overthinkers Club,’ and ‘I’m too sexy for my hair.’ Home-made granola, biscuits and a not-quite-according-to-recipe flapjack.

And… present number 60 was a coffee machine that he particularly wanted.

Decorations, birthday cards and presents from family, and a buffet lunch rounded up the big day.

All in all, it was a fun and happy 60^th birthday. Yay!