25

i'm feeling slightly overwhelmed that i have now hit the quarter-of-a-century mark. i've come a long way, done what i've needed to do so far and am about to embark on an entirely new journey, yet i somehow feel immature. like a child stuck in an adult's body. maybe it has got to do with being home for 2 months now, being pampered and care-free as i was back in the day.

i've thoroughly enjoyed my time under my parents' roof and cannot be thankful enough for being able to come home for such a long period of time, post-medical school, pre-work.

i am also feeling extremely blessed to have celebrated my birthday back home. i don't know when i'll be able to do this again, but at least i was in the presence of my family and closest friends.

so grateful for my dear parents who've been my pillars of strength ever since i was born. i fully appreciate all that they've done and sacrificed for me; even a simple gesture like putting together this small birthday-cum-graduation dinner made me feel so loved. 

i've enjoyed all my birthday celebrations in the past (like this and this), but this one had an extra special meaning to it as i had different people from different phases of my life present. i had my family with me (minus my brother who is in melbourne and couldn't get leave this time of the year), teong rhen my love and his parents, jiang mun who represented the people i grew up with and ho wai who represented my imu friends. my manchester friends are unfortunately back in the UK as they did their elective at a different time, so let's just say they were represented by teong rhen!

i also want to say just how touched i am by these lovely cards sent from my friends from different parts of the world. the giant card was sent all over the UK, from edwina (nottingham) to kwan/joon heng (coventry) to huiling (aberdeen) to ben/mich (dundee) and brought back to malaysia by mich when she came back for her short break. i also received cards from down under - red (adelaide) and tracy (auckland), and from yilin - not quite down under but down south in jb! thanks for the lovely gesture you guys.

of course, many thanks to those who sent personal birthday wishes. you know who you are and that i love you. :)