Quarter of a Century

Today is my 25th birthday.  I remember thinking as a child that 25 was really old.  And then as a teenager, my cousin Sarah turned 25 and I thought that was soooooo cool.  But today doesn't feel any different to me.  I've been thinking I'm 25 and accidentally telling people I'm 25 for a couple of months now.  It happens every year...I'm the last of my friends to turn the new age, so I always just lump myself with the rest of them.  But in spite of all that, I really do see this birthday as special landmark.

I've now passed all that was once prohibited to me.  I can drive, vote, order a drink, and now rent a car without an extra fee.  I guess I've always seen 25 as truly becoming an adult.  I'm no longer in my early 20s, I'm in my mid-20s.  I have a better understanding of myself as a person, my characteristics and the way God made me.  I am the only one responsible for myself and my lifestyle.

But even more than that, this birthday feels like the start of a new era in my life.  Whereas my first 25 years were about learning and growing into who I would become, I think the next 25 years will be about going out and using what I've learned and who I have become.  That's not to say that I know exactly where I'm going to go and what I'm going to do...far from it.  I don't even know where I'm going in 2 weeks!  But I do know that God has put specific desires and motivations in my heart for a reason, and He will show me everyday how to use them.  I have no idea what's up ahead, and honestly, I'm a little scared.  But "I know whom I have believed, and am pursuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him until that day."

So how did I celebrate my 25th birthday?

birthday cake on a stick...mmm!

I woke up to find a card and present on the kitchen table, along with a breakfast birthday cake!  The gift was from my cousin Jeanette, of course, and it was a beautiful painting of a red flower.  I put it up in my room here and look forward to hanging it in my apartment in Germany, whenever and wherever that may be!  I also opened a gift from my good friend, Jenny, which arrived yesterday.  It was a lovely, warm purple scarf along with a couple drawings from her sons, Jeffrey and Zachary.  I was so excited to hang the drawings up in my room, and think of how much fun they must be having this autumn in California.

Thanks to Jeanette for the pretty picture!

Thanks to the Duke's for the purple scarf!

Because I had the day to myself, I decided to walk into the city (about 30 minutes) and run some errands.  According to Google Maps, there was supposed to be an organic store downtown, but that was false.  So I kept walking and remembered that the farmer's market happens on Wednesdays as well as Saturdays in Hof!  I found Helmut's sister Karin working at the stand, so I purchased some fresh lettuce for my birthday salad.  After a nice conversation with Karin, I walked to a café to have a piece of birthday cheesecake and a cappuccino.  While I was sitting outside, I noticed a small store a couple shops down and went in to take a look after finishing my cheesecake.

No, I didn't have a smoke with my coffee and cake...

flax seed meal

It was there I finally found some flaxseed meal!  Seriously, I have been scouring the country for flax seed, and everytime I go into a store and ask, "Haben Sie Flachssame?" the response is always, "Nein."  But today the response was, "Nein, aber wir haben Leinsaat."  I looked at the label to see what it was.  It looked like flax, but I wasn't sure.  So after whipping out the dictionary, what did I discover?  Lein means "flax" and Saat is another word for "seed."  This whole time I've been asking the wrong question!

The health food store had a lot of specialty items, but usually only one size option.  I took a good look around to see what their selection was for when I inevitably run out of vitamins.  But my only other purchases today included sunflower seeds, baking powder and vanilla sugar.  (I asked Karin where I could find vanilla extract for baking, and she didn't know vanilla exists in liquid form.  She said the only way you can buy vanilla in Germany is either vanilla sugar or still in the pod.)  The lady at the health food store was really nice and gave me a free sample of liquid vitamin drops to take home.

taste of home

Upon my return to the house, I baked a batch of my famous snickerdoodle cookies (which some of you are familiar with).  I had to look up the conversion from cups to grams, and then there was the fiasco with the vanilla sugar substituting vanilla extract.  So, it's a good thing I usually eye-ball my recipes anyway!  I brought some cinnamon and nutmeg from the States with me when I came, so I had everything I needed for snickerdoodles.  With a tall glass of milk, it was almost like being at home.

Grießklößchen and salad birthday dinner

Then Jeanette's mother, Sigrid, came over this evening and brought me a red rose for my birthday!  It's always fun to visit with her, because she has a fun personality and she loves to laugh.  She brought a special soup called Grießklößchen, which is basically vegetable broth with potato dumplings.

rose from Sigrid

But the highlight of my evening was having Jeanette sing and Tobias (her son/my cousin once removed) play the "Birthday Song" for me.  In Germany, they don't have a cake with candles and they don't sing "Happy Birthday" to you.  So, it was really special to hear them sing/play it for me, in English nonetheless!

The past 25 years have gone by fast...too fast.  Through every stage of life, my dad has always said, "Valerie, these are the best years of your life.  Enjoy it."  And he's right.  Every year I experience new things, learn new things, and have more adventures.  As I begin the next 25 years, I plan on enjoying them.  Because after all, these are the best years of my life.