Not My Birthday

After being in the Philippines for a month, it was easy to make connections and develop friendships, especially when you work together nine hours a day.  I made twenty four new friends this time, and I knew saying good-bye would be tough.

I thought I made an impact on most of them, well, that’s what I was hoping for. The night before I traveled home my team panicked when I started saying my good-byes. They thought I was staying one more day. I was only there a few hours that evening since I had to finish packing before my early morning flight.

They asked if I would join them for lunch which happened to be at 1:00 AM since we worked overnight. Of course I would come back to share one last meal together. When I arrived, a handful of my new friends escorted me down eighteen floors and out into the early morning hours.

We walked into the Yellow Cab Pizza place where the rest of my friends were waiting. They had planned a party, cheered happy birthday, and arranged an intimate table for twenty-nine….HAHA! Ummm, it’s not my birthday, but clearly they wanted it to be a happy celebration for me.

Happy birthday songs came over the speakers and my friends and all the Yellow Cab employees were singing along wishing me a wonderful celebration. Once all the birthday songs finished, sad good-bye songs played, and songs we had used during work with our daily “song of the day” were sprinkled in. My team had planned each and every song with care.

They presented me a brag-book of sorts that held pictures, memories, and individual notes from each friend. I was so touched that my emotions started getting away from me and I couldn’t continue reading.

Even though it was not my birthday, my twenty-four new friends made me feel loved and special. It was very humbling to feel the impact I had made during my stay. Saying good-bye is never easy so we decided to just say “see you soon.”

xoxox…..Sheryl