I have been fortunate enough to have some really great birthdays throughout this decade, one of which was spent partying in Italy, another diving in Indonesia, and another bungee jumping in New Zealand.
I loved each birthday for very different reasons, and among my top favorites are my 21st birthday spent in Barcelona with three of my best friends; my 25th birthday in Pulau Weh, Indonesia, where I went scuba diving and where my friends surprised me with a proper birthday cake (you don’t even know how amazing it was they managed to find one on this island); and my 26th birthday in Sydney, which was one of the happiest and most carefree nights I had throughout my years living there.
But I have to say that this birthday was my best yet, because I was able to keep up with my tradition while still being able to come home and celebrate in New York City with my family and friends.
To keep in line with celebrating each year of my 20s in a different country, I booked a last minute and luckily very cheap flight to Toronto, a short plane from New York. I got there the day before my birthday and had planned to do some simple things, hit up an art museum, go to Toronto Tower, go shopping — that sort of thing. Then that night, one of the girls staying in my hostel dorm room came home from a day trip to Niagara Falls. And so, I decided to spend my 28th birthday checking out one of the most touristic things you can do on the East Coast.
I booked a tour to the Falls and woke up bright and early the next morning to head out on my adventure. I met a couple of kids from Alaska, a couple of girls based in Iowa, and a couple of girls from England on my bus. I was pretty stunned to meet two people who were actually born and raised in Alaska, one of whom was pursuing becoming a pastor, making him even that much more of a novelty to me. I found myself asking questions like, “Do you like even get cold or are you just immune to it? What do you do in summer when it’s light out 23 hours of the day? How do you get around during winter? Okay so like how cold is cold to you though really?”
Needless to say I think they were very entertained by my questions.
We had a couple of hours at Niagara Falls, which was much too long in winter. It really was beautiful, but during the colder months, there isn’t much to do other than just sit and watch as the Falls do their thing. The waters thundered through the valley, and I realized that they were this deep shade of aqua as translucent and pristine was waters that I had seen in only one other place before: New Zealand.
After wandering around some and taking the most redundant pictures from every possible angle, we hopped back on the bus and headed to grab pub lunch in a nearby town before going for an ice wine tasting.
I had never heard of ice wine before, and even though it was invented in Germany, Canada produces 70 percent of the world’s ice wine. The process is different, and the wine is produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. When harvested, each grape yields only about one to two drops of juice, which all adds up to produce some dangerously sweet and thick dessert wine. (It was even too sweet for this girl, which says a lot.)
I ended off the day back in my hostel, playing some trivia and cards with a fair amount of Irish kids, Aussie kids, and the one British girl whom I met in my hostel room and treated me to a couple of ciders in honor of being 28. She was just coming home from a few years spent in Australia, and I could hear myself echoing in her words about trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life and what route she wants to take.
I came back home to New York the next day, had some corned beef with my family (though I will say I greatly missed my Sydney-style corned beef) and some birthday cake. This past weekend, I had a birthday party in the city, and it was probably one of the most fun nights of my life to date.
I was surrounded by so many people I loved. All my best friends that I grew up with, my brother and stepsister, my incredible friends that I met in uni, friends of friends whom I adore, and the amazing friends I made at work since moving back home. I don’t think my smile ever left my face that night. It was on my face when I woke up the next morning feeling as if I just had the craziest, most rockstar night that only Hollywood stars and celebrities get to experience. I was on Cloud 9, all because I spent the night surrounded by those who bring out the best in me and who make me, me.
So 28, I don’t even have my shit remotely close to being figured out. There are still things and people that float back into my life every so often that I wish I could keep swimming past, there are still things that I wish I could be better at or things I wish I could have more of a handle on, but regardless, I am happy to be here.
I’m happy to be here, 28, and I am excited for an adventurous year together. As Connie, Francesca, and I were talking about today, it’s one more year of getting to know myself that much better while still pleasantly surprising myself all the time.
