Last Sunday night I tied on my joggers and ran up to Hornsby for a Chinese meal with the family to learn some more about my birthday surprise. You see my sister-in-law is pregnant and the sweet little thing is due on my birthday, August 25th. We were gathering together as a family to discover the sex of the little critter.
As I ran along I contemplated how strange life is, how it moves along. Hardy, my younger brother, seems to have the more 'adult' life. He works in a company and has just finished his MBA (graduation this Friday night - hooray Hardy!). He has a house and a family, a mortgage and a tool bench all of his very own. As the older one I have set a fine example of how to study and travel, establish a mortgage and travel, go to music festivals and travel, maintain a full time job and travel. If there is one thing I could help my younger brother with, it would be how to shrug off the constrains of everyday life and skip off around the place. He is happy though. More than happy, he is fulfilled. He built a set of stairs on his own, including the welding. He created one little life (not on his own) and here was the second one... about to be revealed. I have a sense of longing for little ones, as most women my age do. Actually, a friend of mine corrected me the other day, it's not just the over thirties...some girls have that longing as much as a decade earlier. But I am lucky. I do not live my life sans sprats. In fact I have a very gooey head cold as a result of all the time I spend with small children. In addition to my chosen career, I have a lovely brother and sister-in-law who are producing delightful little children that I am able to spoil terrifically.
So I arrived at the restaurant excited for my brother and his lovely wife. I could see them through the window with both of the Grandmothers and my little niece, Baby. They were all smiling and chatting, champagne in their wine glasses (cheap and cheerful chinese restaurant...wine glasses is the way to go). I burst through the door panting and sweaty with endorphins pumping through my veins. Nannie looked surprised to see me that way and I explained. She said she knew I was running already...I guess she didn't think I would put such oomph into it!
A quick freshen up and change and we were at the table. Mum had arranged to have the fortune cookies first, so we could try to guess our surprise. I grabbed at them, eager. The gold foil tore away and the biscuit cracked open. My small strip of paper read,
"Something you lost long ago will soon be found."
Emotion welled up in my throat, excitement in my heart. Possibly due to dehydration combatted with a gulp of champagne I felt a huge wave of joy.
"It's a boy." I said, certain.
Natalie and Hardy smiled at me serenely. The others opened their cookies. All completely irrelevant. Mine had a connection. The others couldn't see it, but I could.
"Yesterday Baby and I made cupcakes as a special way of telling you." Natalie said, fishing around under the table. She pulled out a tupperware and handed mum and I a small cake each. Pulling down the paper revealed a greeny blue sponge beneath the icing.
"I told you it was a boy," I laughed.
My brother looked at me puzzled. How had I known? What was the clue. I explained that long ago our father was lost and seeing as their intention had been to name a son, in part, after our father then it must be a boy. The table smiled and laughed, and we tucked into our lemon chicken and sweet and sour pork whilst discussing football practice and music lessons.
Welcome to our family little Jonathan. It's going to be as though you were never gone.
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