Another birthday

(Posted by Jennifer)

We’ve had another birthday in our new land—now everyone but Michael has gotten a year older in New Zealand (Aidan got older on the plane to New Zealand, but it still counts). It was a quiet birthday at home with the just us four and the traditional dinner of latkes followed by birthday cupcakes, most of which were popped in the freezer to be served at her soccer game on Saturday. (We still have Aidan's birthday cake left over and N's birthday party cake to come, so she went minimalist for her actually birthday.) E, who takes care of the kids after school on the days when I go into Wellington, dropped by to give Naomi a present, and stayed for cake.

To top off the celebration, we let the kids stay up late to celebrate Naomi’s birthday with a lunar eclipse. Cuddling together under the covers, we read from the book of letters I've been writing to Naomi since before she was born. We read entries from birthdays in Cambridge, birthdays in Washington, and we laughed at all the references to how hot it was. Long after they were in bed, I sat on my bedroom floor huddled in a blanket and looked out the window (too cold to watch from outside) and watched the moon glow red—us watching our own light reflected back on us. Here are pictures today from my evening commute—the sunset walk along the beach from the train station (life’s tough)—and from Naomi’s birthday. By the way, if any of you want to make a big girl happy, you might pop Naomi a happy birthday email (naomicgberger@yahoo.com). We’ve gotten two presents and three cards in the mail, but yesterday she was feeling quite far from home on her birthday—something we each feel on these celebrations. But mostly we’re forward-looking here—to the Big Party on the weekend, to planting our new lemon tree in our new back yard, to seeing whether the apple tree is in bloom. There are castle cakes to bake and potions to mix and charms to produce. And sunset and sunrise walks on the beach. Not a bad life.