Bali Dive Blog

Back to the holiday issue… Which ones to celebrate and which to let slip by? I’m into birthdays, but not necessarily my own. Hengky managed to WOW me this time, though, and make me think birthdays are indeed pretty cool after all.

Cool as a cucumber, the 18th passed by with little fanfare. A few text messages, a call from Dad early in the morning, some nice posts on the Kapal Selam message board. But generally a slow day. It was also Gavin’s due date and I was content to sit at home and wait for the contractions to begin (they still haven’t).

Hengky told me we would skip presents and just go out for a romantic dinner which was fine with me as I am more into experiences than gifts any day of the week. So we got ready, and let me tell you, trying to find something nice to wear for a romantic dinner with your hubby when you’re nine months pregnant is a challenge indeed! Finally giving up on the wardrobe we set off.

I was a little interested in our meandering. Hengky was driving and he seemed a bit confused as to where he was heading. We went for gas to the farthest station in the neighborhood and as we drove back toward local restaurants we were still trying to figure out where to go… I was content to let him decide, as it’s always nice to feel like a princess at least once a year.

We turned down a road leading to Warung Batavia, where I knew Teguh was spending the evening with his Air Soft buddies. And all of a sudden random events from the day started to make sense, as I turned my head to see all of our friends and the GlobalXtreme staff standing in line in the patio.

Gregor came running up to the car. And I found that I was speechless. Hengky’s nonchalant attitude over the last few days was melting before my eyes. He had done the unthinkable, and while I might have been expecting somewhere in the back of my brain to arrive at the restaurant and see four or five of our friends, I would never have dreamed that there’d be 50.

It was a perfect party, first singing happy birthday and blowing out 28 candles… which amazingly I could do. Then on to the buffet, complete with yellow rice and all sorts of Indonesian goodies. Teguh had even remembered to make sure there was enough vegetarian food to keep me satisfied. The rain held off and we were able to enjoy the patio.

Those not pregnant (everyone except Patty and I) partook of Hengky’s endless liquor supply and the night got more raucous before slowly dying down. Karen arrived late, but Gregor was absolutely ecstatic, literally jumping up and down with joy at having a playmate.

We finally closed the place at midnight. Hengky’s going to have to work hard to top this birthday. It was absolutely perfect. Thanks honey! And thanks for the 28 roses… mmmm! I could get used to this babe!

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 21st, 2006 at 14:45 and is filed under Bali. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.