26

I started my birthday (and six-day weekend) with some old-fashioned oversleeping followed by a mad dash to get ready for lunch. Boy came over to find an emptier house than normal since Giagi suddenly decided that the car needed cleaning and Ma was out picking up my birthday cake at Fratelli's. When the household finally reassembled, I drove us to Bacchus Bistro in Langley for lunch. It was a glorious day for a long drive--my favourite weather of sunny with a light breeze--made more entertaining by the occasional sight of a Langley horse. When we arrived at the restaurant, we sat on the heated patio and my hopes were high--it had been a long time since my family had last eaten there and I was looking forward to the delicious meal to come. Unfortunately, the spinach salad was not as good as I remembered and the pasta my dad and I ordered was overcooked. Luckily we had my St. Honoré birthday cake, which was yummy as always, as well as an afternoon of wine-tasting ahead of us.

It was Boy's first time at a winery and I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't sure how enjoyable it would be for either of us, but it ended up being pretty fun! We went on a free wine tour at Domaine de Chaberton which was followed by some wine-tasting, where the choice of which wines to sample suddenly fell on my lap. I ended up buying their Siegerrebe, a sweet and fruity white wine, along with the recommended AC 50.

Our next stop was Blackwood Lane, where we got to try around six or seven premiere wines while getting to know the owner, a very friendly man named Carlos who was originally from Peru. He told us about how he found his way into the wine business and the fun events their winery hosted. Our favourite was their signature wine Alliànce. My mom got a bottle for us to drink on a special occasion.

After taking a different route home (our GPS Jane steered us away from Highway 1 traffic by taking us to the Golden Ears Bridge), I arrived at our front door to find a beautiful bouquet from Pleuvy. Thank you so much for your lovely surprise from afar!

I thought that was the end of my birthday surprises when in fact it was just the beginning. I visited Boy after dinner and was greeted with a homemade chocolate cake that he had baked and decorated himself, along with three wrapped packages and a card.

Surprises from Boy, with Zeeebra

I opened the card first and found a gift certificate for 13 guitar lessons from him. Yay! Boy is a wonderful teacher and self-taught guitar whiz so I was looking forward to acquiring a new (and very cool) skill.

Hermes with peeking Zeeebra

Then I opened the bulkiest and heaviest package to find a seafoam green Hermes 3000 typewriter. I was speechless. Months back, we had entered The Regional Assembly of Text on Main Street together and I had said in passing that I had always wanted a typewriter and that it would be a good gift idea to include a typewritten note along with it. This was exactly what Boy did and I couldn't believe that he had scoured cyberland to find one in a colour and style that I liked with a Greek name to match.

Next was the littlest package, which was a bell for my bicycle Nutmeg. Boy said he tested many different ones until he found the one whose sound he knew I wanted.

The last presents were a stack of coloured paper to use with Hermes and two of his favourite books that he had gotten printed and bound for me in their original languages: Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time) and Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's Il Gattopardo (The Leopard).

I was feeling slightly overwhelmed with awe to say the least. I never expected so much thoughtfulness multiplied in an evening. The amount of time and care he put into each gift made me feel incredibly lucky, and as we opened a Moscato d'Asti to accompany our cake and a movie, I felt like 26 had a few tricks up its sleeve after all.