One is always pensive a little on their birthday, thinking about what happened in the past year. This is the 4th year I have collected what actually happened to me, and I sent the list to those who greet me on my birthday.
I put together the sum of my previous years in a nice little compilation:
May 23, 2016:
My Dear Ones, thank you for your birthday wishes! I did a bit of summing up to see how this year was spent, and here is what I came up with:
- every member of my family sat down at a table together and did arts and crafts, only because they know I love it so much
- my Mom and I installed latches in the women’s bathroom of the János Hospital’s Pediatrics wing
- I taught the German physiotherapist to use the cough machine
- I took strawberries to the neighbor lady
- I slept on a hospital bed for moms for a month and a half
- I learned to change the reducer on the oxygen tank
- I prayed with other moms for our children
- I had a date with my husband at the Chairlift (Libegő) in Zugliget (http://visitbudapest.travel/activities/fun-things-to-do/budapest-chairlift/)
- I started anyaujratoltve.hu
- I learned to bake bread from an 80-year-old man
- I mailed a speaking valve to a little boy with tracheostomy tube to Zalaegerszeg
- I was asked to be a Godmother
- at a construction site I asked to sit in the cabin of a truck with my little boy
- I allowed Jesus into my heart
- I managed to patch together the sitting corset with the Bobocar, so my son could ride the bike alone
- I took French pastry to the nurses’ Christmas party
- I sat in a bubbly Jacuzzi with my son who has a tracheostomy tube
- I took a hitchhiker to Adyliget (part of Budapest)
- I swam in the fishing lake in Pilisszentiván
- I was in a constant fever for six days
- I gave a baby stroller to a dad with 5 kids who was working at the sewer construction in our street
- I was able to dance through three choreographies at the International Country Dance Festival in Budapest
- I didn’t sleep through any of the nights this year either
- I prayed together with my Mom and Dad
- I turned 40
This is all I could think about right now. God bless your journey! Verka
May 23, 2015
My Dear Ones, thank you for all the birthday wishes! Today I did some summing up to see what this past year looked like, and this is what I came up with:
- after three years we moved back to Hungary this past fall
- I organized the first neighborhood assembly in our street
- I received home-grown fresh tomatoes and basils from a French man
- I go country dancing every week
- I gave formula, a monitor and clothes to a mother of eight in need
- I revived our dog because he choked on something
- I visited my neighbor who was in the hospital
- I had a picnic on the seaside with French country dancers
- I change my son’s tracheostomy tube every week
- I read the Bible every day and I pray for God’s blessings
- I do tai chi in my garden instead of the beach
- an Italian nurse taught me how to use the ambu bag
- I became the marketing consultant of my childhood friends’ enterprise
- the picture I took of our dog made it into the best 12 out of 230 that the Irish Setter Breeders Club used for their 2015 calendar
- I learned to make Paella from a Hungarian cook living on a Hawaiian island
- I slept on the neighbor’s couch with my son for a night because there was no electricity in our house
- I learned from French women that before we leave the house, we put lipstick on
- as mother-manager I organized CT and MRI examinations, had rails and corsets made, managed to get tracheostomy tube financial support from the Hungarian National Heath Fund (OEP), organized physiotherapy, conductor sessions, a clinical consultation abroad, and acceptance to the Little Heroes Foundation (Kis Hőseink Alapítvány), all for my son
This is all I could think of for now. Blessed evening to you! Big hugs: Verka
May 23, 2014
My Dear Ones, thank you for all the birthday wishes! Today I did some summing up to see what this past year looked like, and this is what I came up with:
- I ordered a plastic cap from the USA which if I put on my son’s tracheostomy tube, he can give out sound (halleluiah)
- my husband and I jet skied in the sea on our wedding anniversary
- I made beef stew with dumplings for a Hungarian homeless man who sits by the local store every day
- it’s been three years now that I haven’t slept through the nights without interruptions
- I taught czardas (Hungarian folk dance) at the country dance club
- I did tai chi at the beach and in the olive tree park
- I went to see where the paragliders land in the hills of Monaco
- I shot a film again after six years
- I took my son to a Budapest Bar concert, which is his favorite band
- I cut the grass by the public stairs next to our house
- I figured out how my son can use a bean bag and the potty chair at the time so he can sit safely
- I am at the 116th lesson in A Course in Miracles
- I partied until 2 AM with friends at the Buddha Bar in Monaco
- I taught a French restaurateur how to pronounce my husband’s first name properly (Zsolt – pronounced as jolie (minus the i) and travailler (only say the t)
- I purchased a painting made of me
- firemen broke my car window, because I left the key inside and the car locked itself automatically
- after the winter was over I collected two cans filled of garbage the sea carried to the shore
- I asked some lemons from a lemon tree out loud, and a few days later the owner gave me more than four pounds as a gift, just because
- at Christmas I took some beigli (Hungarian Christmas pastry) to my neighbor, made by my Mom
- I collected 4562 points in the local store’s point collection program
- I harvested bay leaves for potato stew and souse’s soup
Well, this is all I could think of for now. Big hugs to you all: Verka.
May 23, 2013
Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes. This time of the year one thinks about the past year, does a little summing up… my balance looks like this:
- I spent 90% of the year by the sea
- someone made a painting of my that was displayed in Monaco
- I learned how to change my son’s tracheostomy tube
- I swam in the sea at Epiphany
- I didn’t sleep through the night once in one go
- I made strapachka with gnocchi
- I rode a tandem bike with my husband on Mother’s Day
- I served coffee in French that I made as well
- my close family (Mom, Dad, my brother and me) sat down to eat lunch together (this had not happened in decades)
- I combined pushing the stroller with roller blading
- I partied in Monaco until dawn with my collage girlfriends
- I saw a full rainbow above the sea
- we spent 80% of the year together with my son
- I napped twice a week during siesta, just like Southern people do
- I taught a French baker’s wife how to make cottage cheese patties (túrós pogácsa)
- I saw geranium that blooms all year around
- I collected 1796 points with the “Marche U” club card
- I took our two Irish Setters for a walk every day
I hope I can create a tradition with this, so when You have your birthdays, you will also send me your balances. It would be great to hear how everyone is doing… since we cannot chat at a sensational birthday party with cocktails in our hands…
Kisses and hugs to all of you!
Verka
