April 07 : Birthday

Dear Diary,

Today is sister's birthday. Today she officially hit 12 years old! My little sister is not a baby anymore, she is now a little girl already.

Like previous years, we don't have that much money to buy a cake for her. But I told Joe to buy at least a different kind of bread, preferably with chocolate fillings that she loves so much. Even if we don't have much money, we at least can celebrate it as a normal family does.

Chocolate bread instead of cake, a stick of candle, and a bouquet.

Yes, you heard me right. I gave her a bouquet.

I asked Anna to teach me how to make flowers bouquet and she did! She even gave me some advice regarding which flowers to use, what kind of flowers are better, what color should be used, and so on. I blanked out halfway through her explanation though.

But I'm not the only one giving her a bouquet. Joe did too!

I was so surprised that he did that, considering that he is allergic to pollens. But I guess he already considered sister as his own sister. If I were the one having the allergy, I'd also force myself to make one for sister. What's the harm in doing a little bit of something just to make someone happy? Especially your own family.

And another surprise.

Uncle A and his family visited us to celebrate sister's birthday!

They bring a small chocolate cake with strawberry topping, roasted chicken, some salad, and lastly, they also gave sis a present. It's a flower headband, although they are not a fresh one, it's a pretty headband.

I can see this year's celebration touched deep inside sister's heart. Her eyes were glistening with tears as she saw the presents. She was trying hard to smile instead of crying. I need to give her a tight embrace to calm her down.

It's no wonder that she wants to cry. It's been two years since the last time we can hold a proper birthday celebration for her.

I wonder if she is feeling too happy that she is moved to tears, or if she is sad that we are no longer a complete family.

Honestly, mine is the mix of both. No matter how hard I pray, this family will never be complete anymore. But we can patch it up. We have Joe now. Uncle K and his family can also be considered our family too.

We can't change the past, but we can change the future. The world won't be waiting for us to move, if we stop moving, they will move without us. We have no choice but to keep moving.

That's just how cruel the world is.