!MI CUMPLEAÑOS! (POST 17)

By Kelly Rossnagel

So today is June 17th, three days before my birthday. I woke up around 7, but lay in bed for awhile, reluctant to get the day started. Eventually, I got up and let me tell you I had no idea what kind of day lay ahead of me.

I decided to skip the shower, and headed straight for the coffee. I opened the door, surprised to see a birthday sign and two origami cranes hanging in my doorway. Startled, I thought what a sweet gesture, but I have to admit I was a little confused. "It's not my birthday yet, is it?" I walked down the hallway to read the schedule and saw that the date read "July 20th, Happy Birthday Kelly!" Oh my gosh, I forgot my own birthday!! I walked in the kitchen and was greeted with a couple more Happy Birthdays. Still confused, I decided to go along with it. Then finally someone said, "we all decided to skip a couple days and make today your birthday, so Happy Birthday!" How cool! Not only did people remember, but they moved it ahead to make sure they didn't forget to wish me a happy birthday. I went on with the day, looking forward to exploring the new library and helping out at school.

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Looking back, there were a series of off encounters that didn't make sense until right now. When grabbing my laundry, a couple others were outside talking. I walked past and heard Patti mumble "Kelly", and everyone stopped talking. I opened the fridge and asked Barb if the soda inside was for everyone, to which she replied, "NO, that's not for now... but we will have it later."

A small group of us went to explore the new library, and then over to the school to help out in one of the English classes. The whole time my mom kept telling all the kids we saw that it was my birthday. After lunch, a group of us walked over to the surgery center to check out the new facility. While we were walking back, I noticed that Scott and Lainey had walked ahead. I was greeted by my mother outside and everyone went inside and shut the gate, which was kind of weird, considering we were going to walk in shortly after. I sat and talked with my mom for awhile, and she asked me if I was ready to go in, which I thought was odd.

To my surprise, everyone had lined up in the entryway waiting for my arrival. As I walked in, confetti was thrown, and everyone was singing Happy Birthday and cheering! I was given a present, a birthday hat and walked into the kitchen to see a table full of chips and soda. I opened the present to find a homemade bracelet made by Amber. I loved it! After the kitchen, I was asked to go outside where Ilzir ran out and cracked two eggs on my head. This apparently is a Honduras tradition, the amount of eggs symbolizing each year. I was speechless, I had never expected that anyone would acknowledge my birthday, let alone take the effort to throw me a surprise party. My own SURPRISE birthday!

So there I had it, my own surprise birthday party, in Honduras, on June 17th, thrown by an amazing group of my newest friends. Something I will never forget.